Azure Guilt
by Storm VII
Summary: After failing in his quest for revenge and falling into the Cauldron , Ragna finds himself wounded and limited in the middle of the Crusades. With nowhere else to go, he now raises his sword to fight the Gears and their leader, Justice.
1. Prologue: The Failed Rebellion

_**Don't Own Any of the Franchises Presented Here. Ragna will probably be the only one travelling to this other world. I'll be updating the story location when I put up chapter 2 in about a week. Hope you all enjoy! Ciao!**_

 _Prologue: A Failed Rebellion_

Ragna roared with rage as he charged the silver Murakumo unit in front of him, his sword _Blood-Scythe_ was already glowing black with the energy he'd poured into it. The Murakumo unit giggled as she met his charge with her wing petals exposed. The two swung their respected weapons in an arc, both meeting in a powerful clash that cracked the very ground beneath them. Despite Ragna's exhaustion from his earlier fights with the Red Devil, a weird hooded cat, a black seither blob, a strange doctor, his own brother, and the masked freak, he stood his ground with every bit of strength he had, but he was at his limit.

His most recent fight was definitely the most costly, not only was his opponent incredibly skilled and powerful enough to unnerve him with his fighting aura alone, the injuries he'd received in the fight weren't healing despite the BlazBlue's power. And that fight was barely two minutes before with the crazy girl in front of him. It made him sick, hadn't he been through enough crap for one lifetime? He'd watched his siblings get kidnapped, his arm get cut off, fires burn both the only home he ever had and his foster mother, and all in one day. Now he was fighting a deranged girl constantly saying demeaning innuendos... with the face of his own sister.

"C'mon Ragna!" the girl said cheerfully as she began forcing him back with her blades. "I can still keep going! Don't tell me you're done already!'

"Shut up! Shut the hell up you freak!" Ragna shouted as he pushed back the petals that had placed him in a deadlock. "I'm going to destroy you until there's nothing left!"

"Aw Ragna, Nu just loves it when you talk dirty," the girl said, causing Ragna's temper to raise even further. The Grim Reaper roared as he poured more seither in his sword, transforming it into its scythe form. He began a powerful swing that looked like it was about to take the girls head off, but stopped a hair's breadth from her neck. "Aw, aren't you gonna finish?"

Ragna couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. He was frozen, every muscle on him was completely still. He kept his hand on the scythe, but he just couldn't finish the attack. _'Damn it! My body won't move! What's going on?!'_ The next instant, Ragna felt himself getting impaled in the chest by a giant blade. "ARG!"

"Nu's always dreamed of this," Ragna heard the Murakumo say to him. To his horror, he realized that they were both impaled on the sword. Nu edged herself closer to Ragna and wrapped her arms around him as a lover would, something Ragna wouldn't know. "Nu never wants to be without you Ragna, I want to always be a part of you, forever." She edged them closer and closer to the cauldron, and then they fell... down and down, further and further into the gateway to the boundary. Somehow, Ragna still kept his grip on his sword which had reverted back due to the lack of seither energy.

"BROTHER!" he heard a voice shout as he fell. Through his darkening vision, he saw a very injured Jin attempt to follow him into the Cauldron.

"Rach...el," he said with the last of his strength. "Don't... let Jin... die... with me... Please...!"

He knew it was a shot in a million; even if Rachel was watching and could hear him, nothing guaranteed that she'd be able to teleport Jin out or that she'd care enough to do so. But even when his vision darkened that he couldn't see anything at all, he could still smell the faint aroma of roses as his brother vanished. Despite himself, Ragna smiled before blacking out entirely.

The two then fell deeper and deeper, completely being engulfed in the by the supposed realm of gods. But this Ragna's story does not end there, no... it hadn't even begun.

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere**_

Ragna groaned at his pounding head, no not just his head, every muscle on body was crying out in anguish. Even the current downpour of rain was hurting whenever a raindrop touch him. Despite the pain he slowly forced his eyes open, well his left one; his right eye was shut and refused to open. He slowly tried to move his right arm, but despite the pain he was feeling it didn't budge an inch. He knew what was happening, it had happened only once before, when he and his master Jubei had visited an area completely uncorrupted by seither.

"Damn it... where am I?" Ragna asked as he forced himself to sit upright. He looked around and realized he in the middle of a ruined city, a burning ruined city. He'd been lying on the solid concrete of a street and was soaked to the bone because of the rain. It took him a moment, but the reaper slowly forced himself to his feet. His injuries seemed to have closed, but his clothes were still tattered and bloody, proof that his fight with the deranged Murakumo unit had certainly happened. He noticed his sword _Blood-Scythe_ laying in the ground beside him. He picked up the sword and equipped it to his belt.

Suddenly an inhuman roar was heard and nearby pile of rubble exploded as a giant dragon-like beast crushed it. The thing was huge, if it got up on it's hind legs it'd be about the same size as the Red Devil Ragna had faced earlier. It had dirty brown scales, large wings, a long and powerful tail, and a pair of yellow eyes that were savagely focused on the Grim Reaper. It opened it's jaws in low hiss and Ragna could see purple saliva dripping from the monsters jaws, almost certain that even scrape with those teeth could inject him with lethal venom.

Despite every odd against him, despite this things size and ferocity, despite Ragna's earlier injuries, he unclipped his sword with his good hand and brought the blade in front of him. He didn't care anymore, if he was going to die, he'd die with his swords in his hands, not cowering behind some rock. He'd die like he fought, as a human being until the end.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Ragna questioned in a dark tone, though he doubted the thing could understand him. "Come attack me you freak!"

The dragon let out a savage roar before complying and rushing at the Reaper, its wing flapping to give the creature speed as it lunged at Ragna with its claws extended. Ragna dodge to the side at the last moment before bringing his sword around in a deadly arc, wounding the creature. The creatures tail then lashed out at Ragna and smashed into his ribs, but Ragna bit down the pain as he proceeded to retaliate with his sword, chopping off a good portion of its tail. The creature screamed as it tried to turn and rake Ragna with its claws, but Ragna managed to dive out of the way before rolling on the ground and landing on his feet.

' _Damn it, now what?_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he observed his enemy. While the dragon did look like it had taken some damage from Ragna's attack, its wounds seemed to be a minor hindrance at best. ' _Well, when all else fails go for the head...'_ Ragna eyed the thing's disgusting jaws which were now frothing. ' _This is gonna suck.'_

The dragon roared before rushing forward to bite Ragna. The Reaper leapt over the attack before bringing his blade down on the creature's exposed neck. There was a splash of green blood from the cut and the creature roared in pain. It tried to shake the him off, but Ragna impaled the creature as hard as he could and held on tightly to his sword. The dragon then tried to quickly roll on its back to crush its attacker, but Ragna saw the move coming.

He tore his sword out of the creature's flesh, causing himself to get sprayed in green blood before dodging the monster's heavy bulk. While the dragon was its back, Ragna leapt above the monster's head and roared as he brought the blade down and fully decapitated it. The monster gave one last shrudder before becoming completely still.

Ragna breathed heavily as he attempted to catch his breath. While getting smacked by the tail hadn't been that bad, his previous injuries were starting to open and bleed. With his BlazBlue currently useless and his healing factor greatly diminished because of it, Ragna was in pretty sorry shape right now. Despite this he reset his sword on his metal belt and started walking.

"Hey red-coat," Ragna heard a voice behind him say. He turned his head and who'd addressed him. He was about Ragna's height, a few inches shorter at most, and had slightly tanned skin and brown hair, which was kept spiky in the front, but had a long ponytail in the back. His outfit consisted of a red plated headband that said ' _Rock You'_ on it and a sort of robe that wad mostly white, but had a red stripe down the center. On his waist was a belt with a metal plate on the front with ' _FREE'_ inscribed on it. He carried a large weapon that was about the size of Ragna's and looked like it was just a hunk of metal with leather wrapped around the handle.

"What?" Ragna responded with slight hostility. ' _Something about this guy just pisses me off.'_

 _'Everything about this guy pisses me off,'_ the mystery man thought to himself. "Kliff already got the rest of the civilians out and you're definitely not one of us, so who the hell are you?" Ragna said nothing. "Well if you won't talk get the hell out of here. This is no place for a cripple."

"Any advice where I should go?" Ragna decided to ask, letting the insult slide for now.

"...Head east, you'll find our outpost in a couple of miles. Tell them I sent you and they'll let you in... Or kill you on the spot. Meanwhile..." The man walked past Ragna over to the carcass of the dead dragon. His weapon then glew red for an instant before he swung the giant blade, sending out a wave of fire that completely engulfed the creature. When the flames vanished a moment later the creature was little more than ash. "...I'm on cleanup for the rest of these Gears."

 _'Cleanup he says,'_ Ragna thought to himself, a little worried after what he'd just seen. "Thanks I guess," Ragna said as he began to run east. "You got a name?"

"Sol Badguy, and you?" Sol asked Ragna.

"Ragna," the Reaper called back as he continued to run in the direction that Sol had given him.

"Weird name," Sol muttered under his breath as he fished a cigarette out of his robe pocket.

"Speak for yourself!" Ragna shouted back, apparently hearing him despite being pretty far away.

Sol grunted as he cast a simple magic incantation through on of his fingers. The result was a small flame which Sol put the cigarette he finally managed to find into. After puffing the smoke and blowing rings with it for a few minutes, Sol heard movement behind him. At first he thought it was Ragna, coming back for something, but it turned out to be more Gears, these three appeared to be one of the early 'human soldier' models. Fast, strong, but very stupid. Sol said only one thing as he put his ciggy back in his mouth and gently held the tip with his teeth as he readied his oversized sword.

 _"What a drag."_

 _ **AZURE GUILT**_


	2. The Holy Order

**Storm VII: Hey guys, before I begin chapter one of the only updating BlazBluexGuiltyGear story right now, I figured I'd let everyone know about the promotion that I'm doing for my story reviews. I now hand the microphone over to my two associates.**

 **Ragna: This is just a ploy to generate more reviews isn't it? You know Storm basically lives for the reviews on his stories. Hell, I think it's his equivalent of Sol's smoking problem.**

 **Sol: Smoking's not a problem, I can stop whenever I want! Anyways, the guy on the keyboard has responded to reviews before, but he thought he'd have the two of us to take care of some of the reviews for him.**

 **Ragna: Every chapter Sol and I will answer at least two reviews to answer any questions you guys might have, whether they're meant for us, this story, or even another of Storm's stories. But if you want to make a comment on that last one, be sure to leave the review here and not on the story you want answered.**

 **Sol: Dammit this sounds lame... Hey Storm! We're getting overtime for this right?**

 **VII: If by overtime you mean an extra pack of cigs, then yes.**

 **Sol: Fine with me.**

 **Ragna: What about me? Don't I get anything?**

 **VII: Ask Mori.**

 **Ragna: ...You could've just said no.**

 **VII: Anyways, I'll do all of the reviewing myself this time since you guys don't have any letters addressed to you.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Imaginary Guy117: You posted this review like two minutes after I got my story up. Someone must've been eager for this to go.**

 **animeandgamerlover2: Eh, I'll manage. Just as long as I put a chapter of something every two weeks I think we'll be good.**

 **Yuuki Terumi Ouroboros Master: I don't there'd be a smirk between the two as a proper greeting. These two are pretty antisocial and I don't think they'd get along too well at first.**

 **Blacklace70: Good luck, Guilty Gear's was kind of hard for me to make sense of, but look up everything on a Wiki and I'm pretty sure you'll be fine.**

 **EternalCobra34: Between the gag reel in** _ **Grim Reaper and Beastkin**_ **, Elphelt showing up in** _ **A Reaper's Awakening**_ **, and Ragna wearing Sol's holy order outfit in** _ **A Reaper's Game**_ **I guess you really could see this coming.**

 **adv: Ragna still has his memories, but he doesn't have any seither to power his arm. Something tells me that ain't going to stop him.**

 **KnightSpark: Well I hope it's worth your time.**

 **BloodedgetheReaper2113: To Xrd and beyond my friend, to Xrd and beyond.**

 **shadowedge27: We're already talking about this via PM, but long story short people, don't agree with everything D***hBattle says. Sol's tough and I can clearly see that, but Ragna had some pretty harsh limits put on him that I don't agree with. The result is up to you and everyone has their own opinions.**

 **Law77 & Kicklash: I can come up with interesting concepts, now let's just hope I can deliver with a powerful story.**

 **The Fallen General: Yeah... I don't really think anyone on my stories are there for Yaoi...**

 **Enjoy the chapter, and leave a character review. Ciao!**

 _Duel I: The Holy Order_

"Damn rain," Ragna muttered under his breath as he kept trudging along the rocky terrain of the battlefield. The current downpour made the rubble Ragna walked along that much harder to get around in. Sol had told him that he'd reach the Holy Knights Headquarters in two miles, but with the terrain even travelling a single mile could take time.

"Is this even worth it?" Ragna asked himself aloud. He knew that heading for the Holy Knights was his best chance of getting out of this mess and getting some answers, but if they did know about where he came from or who he was that would mean he'd most likely have to fight his way out.

As Ragna continued to travel he saw a group of lights off in the distance, possibly campfires built under a more covered area. For now, the Reaper decided getting out of the rain and trying to get warm was a good enough reason to head over there.

Ragna decided to rest at the top of a rubble pile for a moment so he could decide what the best path to head back would be. After deciding a proper path he decided to examine his wounds. They all seemed to be close, even the gaping hole he'd had when he'd been impaled on that Murakumo unit's giant sword seemed to have healed. His clothes on the other hand were torn to shreds and soaked in the rain. Ragna doubted he'd find the materials to repair his favorite (only) outfit, but at the very least he could try looking.

As Ragna moved along the path of rubble he noticed small pieces of debris falling around him or being shuffled around. It looked like he was surrounded by more of those monsters from earlier. Ragna drew his sword, but instead of attacking the monsters he instead rested the blade on his shoulder and proceeded to continue walking, hoping to find an open clearing where he could fight all of the freaks at once.

"This is going to suck, but what else should I have expected? My life's been one giant hell ever since that day..."

 _Meanwhile_

Kliff knelt next to a recently built fire. The short elderly warrior was meditating with his giant sword, the _Dragonslayer,_ resting beside him. Kliff hated the crusades, he hated the frequent battles, the cold sleepless nights he'd have to endure, but most of all, he hated losing his family. Nearly every knight of the _Holy Order_ had been taught by him. That meant with every death, every loss of a limb, or even every injury, he blamed himself. Of course he couldn't let that misery show; his men meant too much too him and they needed to look up to a strong leader if they wanted to have any hope of living through this. Hope... that was all anyone could have as motivation these days.

His mediation was briefly interrupted as he heard footsteps approaching him. He could tell a lot about a person simply by the way they stepped. This person might've taken light steps, but it was done with the poise of dignity and authority and were both perfectly paced and well coordinated. Yes... he knew who was approaching him.

"Command Kliff," Ky Kiske said before saluting. Kliff slowly opened his eyes to observe the blonde-haired youth in front of him. "I've just heard from one of our scouting parties that they've found a large group of 'Soldier Type' gears approaching our location. We're not entirely sure if they've found us, but they are in pursuit of another individual. He seems to be armed, however his attire doesn't seem to match any of our own or any civilian garb. Your orders?"

Kliff took a deep breath before responding to Ky's question. "I suppose you're in better condition than any of our other men." It wasn't a question, Ky was one of the most resilient warriors on the battlefield. "I want you to handle this by yourself. Eliminate the group of Gears and bring the man in for questioning, but try not to get too rough with him."

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Kliff nodded. "I think we would be better served sending out a small force of other fighters in order to eliminate these soldier gears. You'd need me here if we were attacked by another force or god forbid, Justice itself. Currently, I think the _Thunderseal_ is the only weapon capable of standing up to the command gear."

"Don't place all of your faith in that sword you carry Ky," Kliff told his student. "That sword is only as powerful as you see it to be, but should you lose faith in your own abilities it becomes meaningless. I will keep our base defended and Sol will return from his 'cleaning' duties shortly. Besides, I know you've been hoping to settle your nerves with a fight for some time now."

"I suppose," Ky told his commander before saluting. "I'll depart at once."

"Dismissed."

As Ky left, Kliff closed his eyes and began meditating again. He thought back to when he'd first met Ky and how young and inexperienced he'd been when they'd first met. His growth was astounding and he was an honorable soldier until the end. He was everything Kliff could wish for in a successor, but it would still be a heavy burden to bear. Sadly this was war, he had little choice in the matter and he certainly wasn't getting any younger.

 _Just outside the Order's camp_

The campfire's Ragna had seen earlier were much closer now, but he'd also attracted quite a few more Gears as he'd travelled. Even with his right eye useless, he could tell that he was followed by close to fifteen gears. He'd just made it to a decent enough clearing, so this was a good on a place as any to fight them off.

(Cue Guilty Gear 2 Overture: _The Fate Broke Down)_

As it turned out, the decision was made for him as one of the human shaped Gears leapt at him from a pile of rubble. The was a quick flash of silver as Ragna swung his sword full force, cleaving the monster in half. Green blood once again sprayed from the massive cut and splattered against his clothing.

"Finally decided to grow a pair you freaks? Let's try to make this quick; I ain't got all day." Ragna's insult was unregistered by the creatures as they started rushing towards him, but it still felt nice for Ragba to trash talk something.

A Gear came at Ragna from behind to rake his back with it's claws, but Ragna merely sidestepped the attack before smashing the monster with the blunt end of his sword, sending it into one of its allies. As the two Gears struggled to recover, Ragna then impaled another gear on his sword before forcing his blade to cut out of the creature's side and slashing another gear, destroying it, further coating Ragna in green blood.

" _ **Carnage-!**_ " Ragna shouted as he rushed toward a group of Gear and performed a devastating slash that destroyed a few, but wounded several. " _ **-Scissors!**_ " The entire group of risen was completely decapitated falling to the ground in pieces. But with Ragna's back exposed he was slashed across the his back by one of the Gear's claws. Ragna grunted in pain before cutting the bastard in half.

Ragna dodged the lunge from another gear, causing it to slam into one of its allies. The Grim Reaper then took advantage of their dazed state and cleaved them both with his sword. Three gears tried attacking him from opposite sides, Ragna simply roared as he spun his entire body in a massive cleave, decapitating all three heads at once. The final two Gears lunged at him from ground level and air. " _ **Infernal Divider!**_ " Ragna shouted as his slash cleaved the two in half vertically.

As green liquid seeped out of the different Gear parts, Ragna took advantage of the moment to catch his breath. The would he'd gotten on his back seemed bad, but he couldn't tell how deep or large the gash had been. He wouldn't have a chance to look over it anyways for he heard movement around him as a second wave of Gears approached him, this one much larger than the first, close to thirty soldiers.

"You assholes are pissing me off! Enough already!" Ragna shouted as he was swarmed from all sides. Ragna roared as he swung his sword repeatedly in a berserk rage, cleaving through group after group of the monsters. It wasn't an easy fight as Ragna was clawed across the chest, on his back, and in his sides, but he kept going, he kept his grip on his sword and he just kept slashing. By now the swordsman's jacket and most of his other clothing was in complete shreds, unable to be repaired. He didn't care, even as his wounds from earlier reopened. He was going to keep fighting, not for any morals or because these things seemed evil, he'd just decided he wasn't going to die here and he was stubborn enough to follow through with it. No matter what injury he'd keep fighting until he Gear's was lying on the ground in front of him in pieces.

When that had finally been accomplished Ragna sagged to one knee. His body ached and he was bleeding out over the ground which was also covered in Gear blood. Some of his wounds were close to fatal, but even with his BlazBlue deactivated due to the lack of Seither, Ragna still had a small healing factor. Ragna noticed five more Gears of the same type heading towards him. Ragna readied himself for yet another fight, but that was before a bolt of lightning came from behind him and struck one of the Gears in the chest and downed it.

"Stay back, I'll handle them," a young man said as he walked past Ragna. The Grim Reaper saw that this guy was a bit similar to his brother, but there seemed to be only a few similarities and in appearance only, most notably their thin body types and their short hairstyles and blonde hair color. The young man's uniform was similar to the one he'd seen on Sol, but where Sol's had been red, this one was a deep blue. This man also carried a broadsword at his hip which he then unsheathed. After he drew it, the blade gave off a surge of lightning.

One of the monsters rushed forward to kill the newcomer with his claws, but the young man unleashed a powerful slash, his sword leaving a wave of lightning as it cut through the air with accuracy. The gear may not have fallen, but the swordsman followed with a second slash the struck the exact same location and finished the gear. The man then slide toward a gear and slashed its legs. The gear tried to impale its claws into the young man, but he flipped himself over and slashing down on the gear's exposed neck. The final three rushed towards the man, but that was before he coated himself in an aura of electricity.

" _ **Ride the Lightning!**_ " the man shouted as he rushed forward in a ball of electricity, vaporizing all three of the gears upon contact.

( _End theme_ )

' _So I do all the work and this guy takes all of the glory. Well whatever,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he put _Blood-Scythe_ back on his belt. He was about to leave, but then the youth readied his sword. ' _You've got to be kidding me...'_

"I'm sorry, but I have to insist that you come with me," he told Ragna. His eyes gave Ragna the opinion that he was clearly serious, but he wasn't one of those assholes who tried to look down on him (plus, Ragna was taller than him). "Is this your work?" Ky asked, referring to the Gear that lay littered around them.

"Yeah, that was me," Ragna told him. "Kind of wished you'd showed up earlier though; my favorite jacket might still be alive." Ragna then looked at his torn garment.

"Apologies, I arrived here as fast as I could, though I think there are more pressing things to worry about than your coat. What style magic did you use?"

' _Magic, not Ars Magus,'_ Ragna noted. "None."

"Beg pardon?"

"Didn't use any magic, 'fraid I don't know any."

' _He did all of this without the use of magic? And he can carry that enormous sword in a single hand. What kind of monster is he?_ ' the youth thought to himself. "How did you know that our headquarters is located this way?"

"I saw the fires in the distance, but before that I ran into a man named Sol Badguy. He pointed me this way and told me to the _Holy Order_ know that he sent me. 'Said they'd either let me in or kill me on the spot."

' _That certainly sounds like Sol. But why'd he send him toward the army instead of the civilian evacuation zone?'_ The youth changed sword hands and held out his right hand for Ragna to shake. "Ky Kiske, Lieutenant of the _Holy Order._ And you?"

"Ragna," the Reaper said before shaking Ky's hand by twisting his left one around since he couldn't use his right.

"Oh, uh apologies," Ky told Ragna, realizing his blunder. The Reaper merely shrugged. "Also, my orders are to take you back, but I'm afraid you'll have to be questioned. My commander's going to be very curious about how you were able to take out all of those gear by yourself."

"Not really much of a secret; I'm good with a sword, I'm strong, they're not," Ragna told Ky. "But what if I refuse to go with you?"

"Then I bring you back by force," Ky told him. "But I'd prefer if you just came with me. You don't appear to be in any trouble, but not coming with me could cause a sea of it."

' _Guess he has a point,'_ Ragna thought to himself. ' _Plus, I still have plenty of wounds and I still can't use my BlazBlue... Damn it, looks like I need to trust this guy._ ' "Just wondering, let's go get out of this rain."

"Can't disagree with you there," Ky said to Ragna as the two started walking. "So where are you from?"

"Nowhere, I just travel a lot and don't really have a home," Ragna told him.

"You're travelling in the middle of the Crusades? I find that unlikely."

"When I say travel I mean try to avoid the fighting," Ragna defended.

"Though you're clearly strong enough to handle yourself if the Gear corpses are any indicator," Ky told him.

"You learn to fight pretty quick when your life's on the line," Ragna said. Trying to get the subject away from him he turned the subject on Ky. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"France," Ky told Ragna. "I lost my home when I was very young and trained myself until I was ready to join the _Holy Order._ "

' _France...'_ Ragna thought to himself. ' _Those books that the sister had back in the church I used to live in, one of them talked about France, 'said it was a nation that existed before the Black Beast caused hell itself. But this can't just be the past; even if the Crusades could be some early name for the Dark War they would've mentioned the NOL or the Gears in recent history... So where the hell am I? What happened to me in the Boundary? And where's that psycho Murakumo unit?'_

Feeling frustrated to no end Ragna let out a groan. Why couldn't he have just died when he'd gotten impaled and let that be the end of it?

 _Later_

Entering the _Holy Order_ outpost, Ragna saw what he'd expect to see in a war zone; some soldiers talking to each other in hopes of keeping their own moral up, others eating meager meals while huddling out of a fire to keep warm, some groaning as they nursed their injuries or missing limbs, and a small area of crudely made graves dedicated to those that had died.

' _Wonder if this is what the NOL branches looked like after I tore them down,'_ Ragna thought to himself before smirking darkly. ' _Nah, they were probably worse, less eating, more body bags.'_ Ragna doubted that he'd have to draw his blade here, but he was still glad no one had tried taking it from him.

Ragna and Ky approached the man that Ragna guessed was the commanding office. He thought it was strange that a man so small and old wielded a sword so large and unconventional, but Ragna knew if the man was doing it for bravado alone he'd already be dead.

"Commander Kliff," Ky said as he saluted. "The group of Gears has been completely wiped out and I've brought the traveler they were chasing with us."

The old man opened his eyes. He glanced at Ky for a brief moment before his eyes bore into Ragna. He stared at the Reaper for a moment, trying to get a grasp of the man from the outside.

"Well done Ky,"Kliff told his Second-in-Command. "I take it the Gears weren't a problem for you?"

"No, but there were hardly any left when I got their," Ky told him. "When I arrived at the location I found Ragna in a field of Gear corpses. There were close to fifty gears in total and I only managed to get the last five."

"You handled all of those gears on your own?" Kliff questioned Ragna. The Reaper nodded. "I suppose that explains why you're covered in so much Gear blood. What style of magic did you use?"

"I don't know any," Ragna told Kliff.

"Really..." Kliff said before standing and walking around the Reaper, examining have. "Yet your wounds have already healed... possibly a sign of untapped potential." He paused as he examined the BlazBlue. "What is this on your arm?"

"Lost my arm when I was young to a psychopath, this is the replacement I got," Ragna told Kliff. "Look, are we done twenty questions yet?"

"Hmph, he seems rather spirited," Kliff said to Ky. "And you're not part of the town that was destroyed or another fraction of the _Holy Order?_ "

"Nope, just a traveller who's trying to avoid trouble, but knows how to fight," Ragna told him. Ragna wasn't really the best at lying or deceiving people, so he decided to keep telling the truth without giving too much away and he'd be fine.

"I see..." Kliff said, stroking his beard. "Ky, would you mind leaving us for now? I've still got a questions for the lad." Ky nodded, gave a final salute, and left. Kliff walked back to his fire and knelt. "I've got a proposition for you. Right now the Crusades are looking bleak and I need every able-bodied fighter I can find. I can have someone in the Crusades teach you how to use magic, but I need your help, we need your help. Can I ask you to join us?"

Ragna weighed his options. He hated the idea of getting caught up in another war and he'd never worked well or got along with others, much less an organized, disciplined group like the crusades. On the other hands the Gears looked like a pretty big threat and like it or not he was in the middle of a war zone; fighting alone in a current state could be a problem and magic would give him just the edge he needed. Plus, if he didn't like the _Holy Order_ he could always run after he managed to learn magic.

"All right I'm in," Ragna told Kliff. "But don't expect me to listen everything I'm told, I've got a pretty big rebellious streak."

"So long as you fight well and none of your brothers-in-arms die because of it we won't have an issue," Kliff said before giving the smallest of smiles. "Besides, I've already had to deal with a rebel like you before but he gets the job done."

"Let me guess, Sol? He seemed the type."

"He is, but before anything else I suggest we get you some fresh clothing. Julia!" A young woman with dark skin, long blonde hair which was braided into a ponytail, round glasses, and a green version of the _Holy Order's_ uniform walked up to Ragna and Kliff. She seemed to be about a foot shorter than Ragna and had a slim physique. She carried a lance on her back which was taller than her, about six feet in length. "Would you mind helping Ragna get set up with a uniform and some basic magic lessons?"

"No sir, I'll make sure he gets what he needs," she said with a small salute. She began walking away and beckoned for Ragna to follow her, which he did. The two made their way through the camp until they reached a small alcove inside there were a few chest with uniforms inside of them. "All right, so the standard uniform color is green, but since we've run out of them I guess for now you can just choose what color you want."

Ragna opened the chest and saw a several uniforms in a multitude of colors. There were ones with a red stripe like Sol's, blue like Ky's, orange, yellow ( very hard on the eyes), pink (yes, really), and purple. He looked through the different uniforms for a second before coming to one that suited him.

"Guess I'll take this black one," Ragna said as the held the uniform up with his left hand. There wasn't much to say about it. It looked like all of the other ones save for the design being black as opposed to a brighter color. He noticed Julia giving him a hesitant look. "What? I think I look good in the color."

"There's only one black uniform and it's a good thing it hasn't been used. That uniform is used to identify an unfaithful member of the _Holy Order_ , running away from fights or ignoring orders entirely. Not even someone as reckless as Sol was forced to wear this thing."

"I don't really care," Ragna told her. "If it's my choice I'll take this one, to hell with symbolism."

"If that's how you want to play it," Julia said with a shake of her head. "You won't make too many friends here wearing that though. Anyways, hurry up and change, I'll be waiting at the training field. Ask a couple of the soldiers and you'll find the way."

"It might take me awhile to change," Ragna told her. "I've only got one good arm right now."

"Don't tell me you're asking me to help me change." To Julia's relief Ragna shook his head. "All right then, take your time and come find me when you can. Also, if you're hungry go ahead and grab a bite to eat from the chef. I'll see you later."

"Later," Ragna said as Julia left. He began to change, but it really was more difficult with only one arm. Taking his jacket and hakama off wasn't too bad, but putting his new uniform on was giving him a lot of grief. Eventually stubbornness won through and Ragna managed to get his new uniform on. He then grabbed his belt and his metal bangles from his coat and put them on his new uniform, giving him the sense that it was really his. He then reset his sword on his belt and the blade managed to stay.

Ragna then balled his clothes under his arm left the alcove and head out, getting a few stares as he travelled. He then noticed nearby fire with only a few _Holy Order_ members around it. He headed over and most of the members stared at him, but one of the guys just shrugged.

"Here to warm up?" he asked.

"Here to give the fire some fuel," Ragna said before begrudgingly throwing his old, shredded, blood-stained clothes into the flames.

Funny, those clothes had always been a big part of him. He'd gotten that jacket the day he'd graduated from Jubei and that was his symbol to identify him as the Grim Reaper, a criminal with the highest bounty in history and was often seen as the scourge to the world. Seeing his clothes burning, it felt like Ragna was throwing his entire past life away, the only reminder he had was the sword he carried and the Azure Grimoire which wouldn't activate.

"Guess I'll be leaving," Ragna said to the others huddled around the fire. None of them responded. "Alright, I guess I can take a hint." Ragna was about to leave when he noticed that all of them were completely still. They looked frozen in time. Looking around, he realized they weren't the only ones. The fire had stopped crackling, rain drops held suspended in the air, even the light wind had stopped. "What the hell's going on?"

" _A new arrival... an unplanned one... you were not part of my designs..."_ Ragna turned a saw man standing directly behind him. The man was wearing a strange white robe with several metal buckles on it and a few red and black stripes. His hood completely covered his face so Ragna couldn't tell what laid beneath.

"HOLY-!" Ragna exclaimed startledly. This guy didn't look hostile, but something about him unnerved Ragna to no end. He wanted to go for his sword, but every cell in his body was screaming out in danger. In the end, he decided to stay still.

" _I suppose I will just have to improvise, you and he could make this an interesting act indeed... You two could be just the monsters this world needs..."_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ragna asked, worried if this did come to a fight. "Me and who else would make good monsters!?"

" _All in good time,"_ the figure said. " _I'll be looking at your performance... Maybe you can be the one to finally rival the Guilty Gear... Oh unknown traveller..."_

Ragna blinked and suddenly everything was back to normal. The rain, the fire, the people. He was completely unnerved, knowing he'd have died in things had escalated. After standing by the fire for a few moments he shook it off and started walking on his way.

' _Who was that man? What did he mean when he said I was the monster he needed and what the hell is the Guilty Gear?'_ Despite himself, Ragna let out a chuckle. ' _I guess it never changes, no matter how many times I die or what world I go to there's always some asshole spewing cryptic bullshit.'_


	3. An Uneasy Partnership

_When Ragna the Bloodedge lost his fight with a psychotic Murakumo unit under Kagutsuchi, he was plunged into the Boundary with her. After he awoke, he found that he hadn't died, but had been brought to a strange new land. Still unsure of where he was, he was forced to draw his blade when he was attacked by a creature known as a Gear. After defeating the monster, Ragna was found by a man named Sol Badguy, who pointed him towards the outpost of a group known as the Holy Order, humanity's last army against the Gear threat._

 _On the way there he was attacked by another group of Gears and in that battle he met Ky Kiske, a young man who was also part of the Holy Order and wielded a magic blade of lightning known as the Thunderseal. Once he'd made it to the outpost he was introduced to Kliff Undersn, the commander of the Holy Order, who then enlisted Ragna in exchange for knowledge of Magic._

 _After meeting another young officer of the Holy Order named Julia, Ragna abandoned his old outfit in exchange for a new uniform, burning his old outfit entirely. He was then approached by a mysterious individual who managed the freeze time around the two while they talked. Though Ragna did not fight that man, he knew that had it come to blows he would not have survived. How did Ragna wind up in this strange new world? Who was the mysterious man, what are his agendas, and what did he mean by 'rival the Guilty Gear?' The wheel of fate is turning.._. let's rock.

Duel II: An Uneasy Partnership

"Is that him?"

"Yeah, he's the one that just joined. Can't believe our first new recruit in weeks is a damned cripple that can't even use magic."

"Are you sure it's not just for show? I heard he took out an entire squad of 'Soldier Type' gears on his own with that huge sword."

"Please, the only people who can do that are Commander Kliff, Ky, and that asshole Sol. This guy's just spreading rumors about himself. Look at him, he's even wearing the 'Dishonored Soldier' uniform. You can't trust anything he says."

Ragna rolled his good eye as he sat on a pile of concrete slabs and ate what little rations he'd been given; a stale loaf of bread, some dried jerky, and mug of rainwater. As a crimi- sorry, as a revolutionary Ragna was already used to 'roughing it,' but even by his standards this was pretty sad. At first he thought he'd been skimped out on rations because of his uniform color or status, but the other members seemed to be eating about as much as he was. After he'd drank the rainwater and finishing the last of his bread he stuffed the rest of the jerky inside on of his pockets in case he needed the rations for later. Remembering that Julia had told him to meet her at the training yard, Ragna decided he'd just walk around until he saw her.

After wandering for a few moments, he came to a small clearing with a couple of members swinging their swords against what looked like those soldier gears from earlier, however these things didn't strike back, they just stood there and took the hits until they vanished.

 _'Those things are probably training dummies. Just like the ones Jubei made with Ars Magus when he was training me.'_ He saw Julia in the center overlooking some of the members as they trained, her arms were crossed and her eyes were focused behind her glasses. She noticed Ragna and walked over to him.

"All right, ready to get started?" she asked. Ragna gave a simple, uncommitted nod. "Alright, what do you know about magic to start with?"

"Absolutely nothing," Ragna told her.

"From the top then. In order to use magic you need to have an energy source vital to magic called Mana. It's a pretty mysterious energy source, but it's impossible to use magic without it. The only close substitute is Chi, but that has a style of its own. Anyways, the process for tuning mana into magic is called the _Twelve Steps_."

Julia unclipped the lance and handed the blade to Ragna. The Grim Reaper could feel a strong power emerging from the weapon. Strangely enough, even though his BlazBlue was still inactive, he could actually feel a slight tingling sensation.

"All right, now I want you to channel mana through your, body using this spear," Julia told him.

"Huh?"

"Mana is usually produced naturally through the body, but its power and usability varies for each person. Certain magic weapons can increase the amount of mana your body produces and helps with channeling it into magic, like this spear. You need to be careful though, your body can only take so much mana being channeled through it. With me so far?"

"So far, yeah," Ragna told her. "But how the hell do we produce mana anyways?"

"There's been a large discussion about that, and several philosophers have discussed it," Julia told him. "There was one philosopher who theorized that mana is actually created in a sacred realm and the only reason humans have access to it is because we all have a connection to that realm, even if it's incredibly small. He also said that the realm also holds all of the truths of the world, almost like a a giant library."

' _Weird, that almost sounds like the Boundary_ ,' Ragna thought to himself. "What was the realm called?"

"Well the philosopher called it the Backyard, or so I've read." Julia was surprised that Ragna was taking the time to question her. When she'd first seen him he often came off as a battle hardened brute, but he seemed pretty interested with the philosophy of magic.

' _Backyard, Boundary, even the names are similar. Seriously what the hell is this?_ ' Ragna asked himself in annoyance. _'There are way too much similarities between where I came from and here for this to be just a coincidence... Does this mean I can actually find a way home?'_ He shook his head. Magic first, going home later. "All right, so how do I get started?"

"For now, focus on making mana with whatever magic potential you have. It should be easier now that you're holding my weapon, but get the technique down so you can gather mana without it. To summon mana, focus on your core energy and draw from that."

"All right..." Ragna said as he closed his eyes and focused. He'd gotten used to focusing on the energies that laid within him ever since being taught to harness the power of the BlazBlue by Jubei and he was relying on his masters old teaching. As he started drawing out the power within him he started to feel a burning sensation throughout his entire body. _'Is it supposed to feel like this?_ he thought before the energy started to dissolve, the pain fading slowly.

"Well you started to summon mana," Julia said, a guilty look on her face. "I guess I should've told you that whatever energy you summon but don't convert into mana is sent along your body and is treated as backlash. I'm just glad you weren't able to summon a lot."

"Warn me next time!" Ragna shouted at her in annoyance. "All right I summoned mana, now what?"

"Now you practice getting the technique down until you don't create any backlash and can hold the mana in your body. It's just going to be a lot of practice from here."

"Sounds annoying," Ragna told her. "But if I'm gonna live through this damn war I guess I'd better get it down." The Reaper closed his eyes as he began to focus once more.

 _Elsewhere_

Sol grunted as he walked past the outpost guards into the _Holy Order_ outpost. He'd just come back after sweeping the parameter and he'd been surprised with the lack of Gears that had come after him. On an normal day he'd had close to twenty-five gears come after him when he activated ' _Gear Attraction,_ ' a special spell he'd created in secret for the sole purpose of giving him an aura that would draw Gears to him so he could put them down without having to find them. Today however he'd only found seven and he'd had to search around on his own feet without a Gear in sight. He'd even upped the spell's output, but that had done close to nothing.

"Sol!" The swordsman turned and saw a familiar annoyance of his approaching, the upstart brat who just so happened to be the second-in-command of the _Holy Order_ , Ky Kiske. The two never spoke on good terms and their close proximity alone was enough to put Sol in a bad mood. When the two started talking thing often became... _Heated_? _Electrified_? I dunno, pick one.

"What do you want?" Sol bit back as he relit his cigarette from earlier. He'd come across a fresh supply of them earlier, but if he wanted them to last he'd have to use each one for as long as he could.

"Did you encounter a man called Ragna while you were searching for Gears?" Ky asked, his eyes narrow in a glare. He couldn't understand why Sol always had to be a lone wolf. The man always went on missions on his own, never talked to anyone back at the bases, and wherever he was given an order it seemed like he always adapted his plan to do the exact opposite of whatever the order had been.

"What does it matter?" Sol asked as he let out a puff of smoke into the air.

"Answer the question!" Ky demanded. Many people had known Ky to be a very forgiving person at heart, but there were those moments he had with Sol that turned him slightly hostile.

Sol put the cig back in mouth and hefted his sword, _Junkyard Dog,_ over his shoulder before answering Ky. "Yeah I did. Why, did he make it here?"

"He did, but his life was in danger because you weren't doing your job!" Ky shouted at Sol, his tone becoming more violent than usual, even when dealing with him. "You're supposed to escort civilians to the safe zone! Not send them off towards us and hope that they make it!"

"What, he made it didn't he?" Sol asked passively.

"With no less than fifty Gears at his feet!" Ky shouted. "He was close to death when I found him, it's a miracle that he's still alive!"

 _'Fifty?'_ Sol thought to himself. _'With my spell I'm not even able to find seven, but somehow this runt's able to get attention to fifty of these freaks. That and he managed to beat them all when I wasn't detecting any magic from him... what the hell he?'_

"Whatever," Sol finally decided on saying to Ky. He then shoved his way past the youth and made his way elsewhere. As Sol walked along he received stares from his fellow members of the order, but he didn't care; he'd lost interest in his social standing a long time ago...

As he walked along the edge of the clearing that was used as their training yard he noticed the man he'd seen earlier in the center of the group. It looked like he was trying to master magic, but to Sol the man had little idea what he was actually doing. He was able to feel out the power sure, but actually processing it was another story. He was processing less than a fraction of a percent right now, and that was with a magic weapon.

 _'This is the guy that managed to take down fifty gears by himself? I'd say that I don't see it, but magic power doesn't exactly translate to combat prowess, and he's probably has at least a few techniques if he travels with an exotic blade like that.'_

Sol didn't really have much else to do, so he sat on some rubble and watched Ragna as he tried to generate mana. If nothing else it'd give him some insight on why the Gears wanted him dead so damned bad.

 _Two Hours Later_

Ragna was still struggling, no matter how hard he'd tried he experienced a massive amount of backlash and he could never keep the mana from dissolving for more than a minute at most. It brought him back of his days of training with Jubei alright, those first few days where all he'd managed to do was fall flat on his ass.

 _'Damn it, this isn't working,'_ Ragna thought to himself in annoyance as he clutched the spear. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Julia staring at him, apparently deep in thought. "Pretty pathetic huh?"

"Actually the fact that you were able to already able to produce mana without training is pretty impressive," Julia told Ragna while adjusting her glasses. "You might not see it yet, but you're steadily improving on you're conjuring of mana. All it takes from here is time and practice... which sad to say we don't have much of."

"Guess I'll just have to keep hitting this until it sticks," Ragna said. Hey, it was his normal way of working through things and it worked out well at times. "Thanks for the help though."

"Yeah, good luck with the practice. Just let me know once you're able to properly create mana and I'll teach you about properly turning it into spells."

"Got it," Ragna said as he closed his eyes again and began to focus. The burning sensation was starting to get less intense, but his body still couldn't maintain the mana he created for very long. _'Damn it, this is taking too long! How the hell am I supposed to be maintaining mana if my body keeps rejecting it!'_

After letting the mana disperse Ragna decided he'd take another approach to this. He laid the spear on the ground so he wouldn't break it by mistake with what he was about to attempt. He started summoning mana to his body once more, still feeling the backlash as he created it.

 _'All right,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Now if I can just move the mana to my BlazBlue...'_ He attempted to channel energy the same way he channeled Seither, immediately his inactive arm started throbbing in pain. _'WORK DAMMIT!'_

The ground around Ragna started to rumble and his arm started becoming encased in flames of darkness. Ragna roared as he painful started getting his senses back in his arm. All of the other recruits started at Ragna in awe as the flames spread and covered his entire body.

 _'What the hell is this?'_ Sol thought astonished from where he was sitting. _'His magic just shot up to a level that should be impossible for him at this stage!'_ Sol took a moment to fully observe Ragna's magic as the flames continued to grow. _'It's like his body is reconstructing itself to be able to handle massive amounts mana. He's getting the equivalent of a decade worth of magic training in a minutes, but the stress on his body could kill him!'_

"DISPEL IT!" Sol shouted. "YOU LOSE CONTROL OF THAT MANA HERE AND YOU'LL EXPLODE FROM THE BACKLASH!"

Ragna gave one final roar as the flames gave one last massive burst of power, enough to tear up the ground beneath him and send dust flying everywhere. After a moment, the cloud cleared to reveal Ragna standing heavily in a crater he'd made with his power up. He was breathing heavily and his entire body was in pain, but his new uniform had miraculously survived now both of his eyes were open. Ragna flexed his right arm, the BlazBlue moved with ease and Ragna could feel a steady power pulsing from it. He slowly opened his right eye and revealed the blood red iris.

 _'I feel... strong,'_ Ragna thought to himself. He tried drawing mana again and was surprised with how naturally it came to him. He didn't feel a single trace of backlash and the amount he was able to create was exponentially higher than it'd been before. Storing it was now a natural to him as breathing and he doubted it'd dispel anytime soon.

 _'Something's wrong with his channeling,'_ Sol though to himself. _'When a normal person creates mana, the energy disperses naturally around the entire body with only a slight concentration in the brain area, but his seems to have a major focus on that arm of his. No... the arm's not only storing mana, it's creating it. Is he using one of the Sacred Treasures? No, he'd have been able to create mana right from the start if that'd been the case, so what is it?'_

"Well that was something," Ragna said to no one in particular. He noticed that all of the members of the _Holy Order_ were still staring at him in awe, but decided to ignore them. ' _I probably put on more of a show than I needed to, but at least my damn arm's working again.'_

"H-How did you do that?" Julia asked Ragna in a stuttering voice.

Ragna was silent as he tried to come up with some kind of explanation that they'd buy. "My arm's actually a magic weapon just like yours. I guess it just needed some mana to actually active it."

"How could you have had something with that power and not had any idea to activate it?" Julia asked Ragna with suspicion; nothing Ragna was saying seemed to add up.

"I only got this recently..." Ragna lied. He then thought back to the man he'd encountered when time had briefly frozen. He'd need to pile on another lie, but for right now it didn't matter. "There was a weird guy who gave this to me. I didn't manage to get a good look at his face, but it seemed like he knew I needed this."

"And you just took it?" Ragna and the rest of the _Holy Order_ looked up and noticed Ky and Kliff heading towards them. "We noticed a powerful surge a magic, but you were the last person I was expecting it from. Why did you think it was a good idea to take the arm when you had no idea what it was?" Kliff's questions weren't hostile, but he did speak with authority.

"I was desperate," Ragna told him. "I'd just lost my arm to a Gear and I needed a way to defend myself. I didn't know that he wouldn't even teach me how to use this thing. How was I supposed to know that I needed to put mana into it to activate this damn thing?"

Neither Kliff nor Ky said anything. They just continued to analyze Ragna's arm and try to get an idea of how it had so much power.

"Commander!" a voice shouted. A man from the scouting group ran up to them in a hurry. "There's a large group of Gears about a mile off of our northern border! They're heading straight for the refugee camp!"

"Oh my god," Julia said. "How many men do we have posted there?"

"Not nearly enough," the scout told her. "There were several dragon types and close to thirty soldier types. What's worse is they seemed to be regrouping with other groupings of Gears. For all we know there could be a massive army on the way!"

"We need send a large force immediately!" Ky told his commander. "Those refuges won't stand a chance without us and I refuse to stand idly by and leave them to die!"

"I understand, but our other group of scouts has yet to return from the south and they're long overdue," Kliff told his commander. "For all we know, this could be a diversion to divide our numbers and attack or take this fortress away from us, both of which we can't afford to have happen."

"Then I'll go alone." Everyone was surprised to see that Ragna had spoken up. "I'll take out the Gears myself and the rest of you can worry about the attack from the south. Now that I've got magic this'll be easy."

"Ragna you just managed to learn how to create mana, by means we're not even sure are permanent!" Julia told him. "Just because you're arm managed to shoot your power to a new level doesn't mean you can use magic!"

"Say what you want, I'm still going," Ragna said unyieldingly as he started to walk off.

"Then I'm going with you." It hadn't been Ky or Julia who'd spoken though.

Of all the things that had happened in the past five minutes alone, the most surprising thing by far was this. Sol Badguy, the constant lone wolf who'd blow off anyone who tried to talk to him and would never accept even the notion of bring someone along for his mission, was **volunteering** to work with the newcomer Ragna? Never in a hundred years did anyone think this would happen. Ragna himself was skeptical to the idea, and frankly he wanted to work alone himself, but something told him he wouldn't have a choice.

"Fine, let's quit wasting time and go." Sol nodded and the two ran off towards the north.

Ky looked at his commanding officer in exasperation. "Are we really going trust something as important as this to those two? I wouldn't exactly call either of them a fully trusted member."

"I've put my faith in them because there's little else we could do," Kliff told the young swordsman. "Besides, Ragna came to us and joined willingly. There's little evidence to suggest foul motives here, even with the mystery of his arm."

"And how do you plan to handle that arm if its turned against us?" Ky had to ask.

"For now we can only watch," the elderly man told him. "Our efforts need to be focused on the Gears, but should problems start to arise we'll confront Ragna directly. Seeing how he and Sol handle this situation will give us a proper insight to his character and motives."

"Very well," Ky accepted. "I'll organize another scouting party to see if we can't find a detailed report on the situation in the south."

"I leave it to you then," Kliff told him. "And Ky?"

"Yes sir?"

"Be sure you give another thought to my offer. I still haven't given up hope that you'll accept my position."

Ky said nothing as he left. Perhaps the stress was getting to him or he wasn't feeling ready for a mission with as large of a scale as this one, but the idea of leading the _Holy Order_ seemed as far away from him as ever.

 _Later- Two Miles away from the refugee camp_

Ragna and Sol continued to run through the piles of rubble and the pouring rain as they hurried to intercept the gears before they could lay waste to the refugees. Sol had taken the lead and was tracking the Gears with a spell as Ragna followed closely behind.

Because of his old habits of taking every mission on his own Sol had to occasionally remind himself that he wasn't trying to lose Ragna, but he seemed to be keeping up with him much better than the other members. Eventually the two manage to get to a small pile of rubble that was just overlooking the collection of Gears. The number had vastly increased before the scout have arrived, now carrying close to sixty soldier type gears and fifteen dragon types.

( _Cue Order Sol's Theme_ Get Down to Business)

"So how do you want to do this?" Ragna asked from besides Sol.

"I break through, you try to keep up," Sol said before sliding down the pile and attracting the attention of several of the gears. His entire body started glowing with red flames as he charged his fire magic. Several soldier type Gears lunged forward to kill him, but Sol swiped _Junkyard Dog,_ causing a wave of flames to emit from the weapon incinerating the Gears. He then cloaked his right fist in fire and lunged through the fire and attacked another Gear, impaling it through the chest. Sol then swung his sword and decapitated another two gears at their heads.

Ragna meanwhile and leapt into the fray with his sword glowing with _Soul Eater_ energy. He hadn't poured in enough to transform it into its scythe mode, but the wave of darkness it created was absolutely devastating, wiping out an entire group of gears. " ** _Gauntlet Hades!_** **"** Ragna shouted as he flipped over a group Soldier Gears and slammed his foot down on a Dragon Types head before following up with another kick. The dragon screamed in rage before Ragna brought his sword around and cut it's head off. " ** _Dead Spike!_** " he shouted as he sent out a wave of darkness and destroyed another group of soldier gears.

" ** _Grand Viper!_** " Sol shouted as he uppercutted a dragon type into the air with his leg completely covered in flames. He then focused and absorbed some of the remaining energy from the attack and unleashed another wave of fire as he landed. He then turned toward the Dragons behind him. " ** _Tyrant-!_** " He shouted as he flame fisted one of them, punching through scales and flesh and ending. " ** _Rave-!_** " Another fist, downing another dragon. " ** _SHATTER!_** " Sol unleashed a massive shot of fire which engulfed several of them.

" ** _CARNAGE-!_** " Ragna rushed forward and unleashed a massive on a group of gears. " ** _SCISSORS!_** " The wave of soul eater completely destroyed the gears, leaving nothing left in its wake. " ** _HELL'S FANG!_** " Ragna destroyed another group of Gears with his classic lunging fist or darkness maneuver. Even from the heat of battle, Sol still managed to take the time to analyze Ragna's attacks.

 _'I've never seen magic used like that before,'_ Sol thought as he cut down a Gear that had gotten a little too close for his liking. _'He's using it to not only inflict damage on his opponent, but he's also stealing part of their life force and converting it into energy for his use.'_ Sol then used his long ranged fire magic to blast a gear that was too far away for his liking. ' _I would've thought that magic would be illegal, but I guess these are times of war.'_ Sol then eradicated a group of gears with massive slash because they existed a little too much for his liking. _'Still, where'd he learn it?'_

 _'Fire magic aside, this guy's moves are a bit like my own. A bit stronger, but I guess that's because he can't steal life energy like I can,'_ Ragna thought as he continued to carve through the Gears at an alarming rate. _'I don't know much about this world, but I know enough that I don't want this guy as my enemy.'_

(End theme)

A few minutes later all of the Gears were completely eradicated, either by incineration, soul absorption, being cut to pieces, pounded into the ground... you get the idea. Ragna twirled _Blood-Scythe_ in his hand a few times before placing it on his belt.

"Is that all of them?" Ragna asked Sol, the older warrior lighting a smoke.

"Should be," he said simply before fishing another cig out of his pocket. "Here."

"I don't smoke," Ragna told Sol, who still forced it into his hands. He tried smoking only once before and it was unbearable, all of those chemicals and fumes all at once.

"Keep it anyways, you never know if it'll come in handy," Sol said before blowing a ring with cigarette smoke. "You ready to head back?"

"Shouldn't we check on the camp first? The whole point of this thing was to make sure it was alright."

"You go ahead and check on it, I don't do well with people," Sol said as he started to walk off.

"Then why'd you decide to work with me?" Ragna questioned.

"Because I didn't think you'd last a second out here without me," Sol said as he hefted _Junkyard Dog,_ over his shoulder.

 _'Can't tell if he doesn't trust me or if he just doesn't like me,'_ Ragna thought to himself before heading towards the refugee camp. _'Wait a damn minute, when did I start caring about the people here so damn much? I'm supposed to be the Grim Reaper, a ruthless killer, a monster, a...'_ Ragna passed by a shattered mirror and took a good look at himself. In his new attire, he thought he might almost look heroic, maybe like a guy that people might actually follow, not one they'd scorn and fear. _'…heroic... yeah right...'_

 **Author's Note:**

 **Storm VII: I really hope the summary helped some of you, sorry if that last chapter was confusing. Guilty Gear's lore is pretty hard to get into and I did a lot that last chapter, but I'll start doing these summaries to try and keep it simple. Anyways, I now have three character reviews, so I'll address those now.**

 **Ragna (depressed): I didn't get my overtime bonus...**

 **Sol (smoking): You asked M**i. I'd be shocked if he'd given it to you. (SHOTS. FIRED.)**

 **VII: A guest by the name of** ** _Reaper Onslaught_** **writes to Ragna asking "How would you say your chances with hooking up with I-No are looking?"**

 **Sol: *Cringes* Seriously?**

 **Ragna: I-no... Sorry, who's that? Can't tell if it's a guy or girl.**

 **Sol: Remember the first Gag Reel Strom put up?**

 **Ranga: You mean the one where I did a 'meet the family' thing with Makoto and you Guilty Gear guys were acting the different roles of her family? Yeah, why?**

 **Sol: She was the one you knocked unconscious.**

 **Ragna: Oh, the one with the overly sexual innuendos... Wait, WHAT THE HELL!? Why the hell would I be paired with that bitch!?**

 **Sol: Well the fandom for one thing...**

 **Ranga: ...Damn it.**

 **VII: You didn't answer the question.**

 **Ragna: VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY UNLIKELY! That woman is pretty much a female Terumi and I'm going to destroy her when I see her!**

 **Sol (blowing a smoke ring): You'll have to get in line; I've got a bone to pick with that witch too.**

 **VII: Well the next one's also for Ragna. A guest profile asks:**

 **"How high do you think your chances are of on having a better life in "this" world than you "home" world?**

 **Ragna: Well I've only been in the world for one day and I've met quiet a few people, but I also got clawed all over my body, lost my favorite outfit, and got thrown into another war, so that depends if this was a good or bad day.**

 **Sol: Pretty sure this counts a bad day...**

 **VII: Well then, final question...** ** _Blackace70_** **asks different questions for both of you. First for Ragna:**

 **"** **Not sure if someone asked you this or not. If they did, sorry for the repeat. How'd you feel about getting rid of your jacket? I know how much they meant to you considering Jubei gave em to you and all. Not to mention; in every other story you've been in for Storm. You pretty much fight tooth and nail, to make sure nobody messes with it. I'm shocked that let it go that easily. I'd figured you hold on to it as keepsake or at least, to try and get it repaired."**

 **Ragna: *Deep breath* Well, I hated to see the thing go, it was like I was losing a piece of me when I threw it into the fire, but you didn't see how bad it was. When Storm said I got rid of the remains, most of those were for my hamaka. My jacket was little more than a few torn strands of cloth and all of it was bloodstained. Even if I tried to repair it and succeeded, almost all of the original coat would be gone... on an unrelated note, this** ** _Holy Order_** **uniform isn't bad at all. Kind of a neat new look and I still have my bangles and plates from my old jacket, so that's a plus.**

 **Sol: He's probably still going to host a ceremony for cremating the jacket.**

 **Ragna: ...Probably.**

 **VII: Great. And for Sol:**

 **"** **How do you feel working with Ragna on this project? I know that fans makes you guys have beef with each other every waking moment, or put you guys in um... *Ahem* Slash Pairings. But that's them, how do you honestly feel working with the Grim Reaper. In and out of the Story?"**

 **Sol: ... In story right now I'm suspicious as hell when it comes to the guy, but I guess I've got a good reason to be after that last chapter.**

 **VII: And outside the story?**

 **Sol: We actually get along better than you think. We take jabs at each other sure, but it never gets as violent as some people think. We actually go bowling every other Saturday and we're part of a garage band called 'Azure Guilt,' where we play a lot of** ** _Queen's_** **music along with some songs by the** ** _Beatles, Eagle, AC DC, and Gun and Roses_** **.**

 **Ragna: Sol and I are on guitars and vocals, we got Kagura on drums, and even Sin's in on the action. Sol thinks the kid's an idiot, but man can he play the piano!**

 **Sol: Well I had to teach him something...**

 **VII: So you skipped out on teaching him basic math, how to read, and geography just so he can play Queen music on the piano!? What sort of parenting is that?**

 **Sol: Badass parenting.**

 **VII: Right...**

 **Sol: Quick question though, are there really 'Slash Fictions' of me and Ragna?**

 **VII (nervous): From what I can tell ...a few?**

 **Sol (unreadable):...**

 **Ragna: Sol?**

 **Sol: ...*Goes Dragon Install* SON OF A BITCH!**

 **VII: Sol! C'mon calm down! Hey! Hey! Put down Junkyard Dog! Sol! Sol!**

 **Ragna: He's too far gone!**

 **VII: Sol! You're a fictional character; you can't just kill the authors!**

 **Sol (Dragon Instal Mode): WATCH ME! *Leaves***

 **Ragna sighs as he picks up** ** _Blood-Scythe_** **.**

 **VII: Are you going to try to stop him?**

 **Ragna: No, but if he does find a way to get to the Slash authors I want in on the action.**

 **VII: I thought you supported same sex couples!**

 **Ragna: I do, but Slash Fiction is another story! Especially when it's between us!**

 **Sol (In the background): WHERE'S THAT DAMNED FOURTH WALL!?**

 **Ranga: ... I'd better follow him before he does something drastic.**

 **VII (Holding his head depressed): Just go... And now for the rest of the reviews...**

 **Yuuki Terumi ouroboros master: I know the beginning was confusing, but I'm working on it.**

 **Element-OverLord: Well Ragna will be seen in other world, but this is probably a GG only world.**

 **BloodedgetheReaper2113 and Guest42: Sorry, but I know I won't be doing Ragna x Dizzy. Reason for that is while they are a cute couple, that kind of destroys Sin's character completely.**

 **Law77: Summary added.**

 **Adv: Let's hope.**

 **Shadowedge27: Mission start.**

 **Animeandgamerlover2: just look at a wiki, you'll get the gist.**

 **Dread Grim Reaper: I already have an idea for that, but thanks for the ideas.**

 **Until next time. I need to try and stop Sol... Ciao.**


	4. A Cause to Fight For

**_Author's Note: Before I begin I just wanted to give a shout out to BlackAce70 and TheGrayKing27, two fanfiction friends of mine who are going to be beta reading every chapter of this story. Long story short, less lame grammar mistakes. Thanks again guys._**

 _Duel III: A Cause to Fight For_

 _Despair..._ It was the first thing that Ragna saw as he entered the refugee camp. Families huddled together by burning barrels of garbage to stay warm, others scrounging around the area in a vain hope of finding usable supplies, and a select few covering themselves in small piles of garbage in order to block out the rain and the cold.

 _'Good god...'_ Ragna could only think to himself. _'How long have they had to live like this?'_ The Reaper continued to walked through the camp, forcing himself to look at each and every one struggle for survival, every face filled with hopelessness, forcing himself not to cover his ears as he heard a mother's sobs of agony as she held an infant barely clinging to life in her arms, forcing himself not to cover his nose at the horrible odor that covered this hellhole.

 _'How is this surviving!?'_ Ragna thought to himself in anger. _'It's not like our base is much better, but how can anyone stand living in this hell!?'_

"It's hard to look at, I know, but this is the suffering that this _Crusade_ has caused," Ragna heard a voice with an accent he couldn't say he recognized. The man who'd said it certainly wasn't a refugee; his clothes were too neat and orderly and he didn't have a spot of grime on him. He was wearing a grey suit with a red-cross design on each of the sleeves, a white undershirt, a red tie, a red sash on his right shoulder, and a monocle over his left eye. He had brown hair which he had slicked to the side as well as a small beard and a thin mustache which were also brown. "You don't appear to be startled by my presence."

Now that Ragna could see his lips moving, he could make out the fangs that lie beneath, fangs that he'd only seen once before from a certain Rabbit. "You're a Vampire?"

The man gave a rather bemused smile as he reached inside his suit and brought out a brown wooden smoking pipe. "So you know of my kind, most unusual. I'd thought by now I'd be the subject of myths and used in a child's bedtime story to scare them into behaving."

"I've been around the block a few times," Ragna said (definitely not a lie).

"Is that so?" the Vampire questioned, not dropping his smile as he continued to hold his pipe. "If you had, I imagine I would've seen you by now, but sad to say I have no knowledge of who you might be. Quite surprising, truly; but let us take this conversation elsewhere."

Ragna didn't trust this guy, whoever he was, but he also knew that messing with a vampire was always a bad idea, if his experience with Rachel was anything to go off of. In the end, he decided to follow the dandy enigma and hope to get a couple of answers out of him.

"I had my speculations before, but your knowledge of my kinds' existence confirms it," the mystery man said as they walked. "Though I can't remember the last time I encountered a _Dhampir_ , or a _Half-Night_ as I used to call them." Once they had walked outside the borders of the refugee camp, he turned to face Ragna with a much more serious expression. "You don't have much time, so listen carefully. These people that you saw need supplies dearly, and they won't make it through another few days without them. There's a supply convoy a few miles away that should be arriving soon. However..."

"It's gonna get attacked by Gears, isn't it?" Ragna guessed. He didn't really understand what the guy had meant about him being a ' _Half-Night_ ,' but he figured for now it could wait.

"You catch on quick, I can appreciate that," the vampire said. "It's under guard from the _Holy Order_ of course, but even then the Gear group is far too large

. They'll massacre the members and burn the supplies, leaving these helpless victims of war to die. There's still a chance to save them if you go now."

"Where's the convoy?" Ragna asked without hesitation. Bane of the world or not, he didn't care. After what he just saw, he couldn't just sit back and let these people starve to death. He didn't find himself above genocide or massive slaughter, but at the same time turning a blind eye was something he'd never stomach.

"You see that pile of debris over yonder?" The Vampire casually gestured with his head before taking a match out of his suit and lighting his pipe. "Keep travelling in that direction and you'll find the convoy. You don't have time to dawdle, so I'd suggest running the distance; I've noticed a good cross country run before an exchange of fisticuffs can do the body wonders."

"And you're not going because...?" Ragna questioned.

"It's not my battle to fight, it's yours. My place has always been on the sidelines, as a spectator."

 _'Weird, that almost sounds like the Rabbit,'_ Ragna thought to himself. "What the hell do I call you?"

"Ah, how rude of me. Here I am sending you off towards a battle and we've yet to even exchange names. I currently go by Slayer, so if you'd be inclined to call me that I'd appreciate it."

"Slayer, huh? Well call me Ragna," the Reaper said before running off towards where Slayer had pointed him. Once he was gone, the dandy gentleman chuckled to himself.

"I can certainly see why Sol is interested in the lad. He certainly has an air of mystery about him, but he's impulsive to a fault. I can't help but wonder where this road will lead him." Reaching inside his suit once more, Slayer brought out his pocket watch. "A quarter past five... I dearly hope that I can observe my newest interest in combat before it gets too late, lest Sharon start to worry about me."

Slayer then took his red sash off of his shoulder, and it grew taller than he was. He then stepped into the sash, which transformed into a red bat and flew off into the darkness of the clouds above.

 ** _Meanwhile_**

Sol once again grunted as he passed by a border guard and enter the _Holy Order's_ base. The seasoned warrior had a lot on his mind, some of it regarding the recent activity of Gears, and another part pointed towards the appearance of Ragna. He knew that the two had to be connected in some way, but as to how he had little idea. Noticing that his familiar place in the rubble pile was unoccupied, he took a seat and let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

 _'The kid's power seems to reside largely on the usage of darkness, and he's able to channel that power through his right arm and use that as a weapon. Not only does the darkness boost his attack damage, but he can steal energy from his opponents and use it for himself. But I'm still not sure about the type of energy he's stealing. When I saw him fighting the gears he was stealing whatever magic energy they had in them, but what would he be taking if there's no magic? Would he be stealing a person's life energy? Their very soul?'_

Sol still didn't have the answers he'd wanted about Ragna, even after analyzing him in combat. Sol supposed that if he wanted a better understanding of Ragna's powers, he could always try fighting him man-to-man, but Kliff always scorned him whenever he beat up any of the other knights that tried to pick a fight with him.

 _'I could call it sparing match,'_ Sol thought to himself. _'But would anyone really go for it? I never participate in training exercises with the other recruits so singling out one soldier is going to seem strange. I guess the only thing I can do for now is wait for another chance to look into his powers.'_

"So you've returned." Sol turned his head and saw Kliff approaching him. "How is the camp?"

"Safe," Sol assured him. "The new guy and I managed to wipe out all of the Gears."

"Well done them," Kliff said with satisfaction. "Where is Ragna now?"

"He said he wanted to check the camp, I let him," Sol informed him curtly. "Something wrong?"

"No, we've gotten word that our scouting party did encounter a few Gears to the south, but they've been dealt with. With all of these Gears I'm beginning to believe there may be a factory in the area."

"Makes sense," Sol agreed bluntly.

"I'm going to send out a small squad of troops to the refugee camp to protect it until the convoy arrives with reinforcements and supplies. I want you and Ky to be part of that group."

"Whatever," was all Sol said as he puffed his nearly finished cig. He'd only teamed up with Ragna because he'd wanted to see the results of the power up, but he figured he'd team up with Ky and the others, if only because he wanted to erase SOME suspicion.

"So you're working with your fellow _Holy Knights_ now?" Kliff asked with a chuckle. "I'll make a Paladin out of you yet."

"Don't count on it, old man," Sol told him as he threw his cigarette the ground and crushed it beneath his boot. "This is a one-time thing."

"I'm sorry to hear you say that," Kliff said disappointedly. "But you seemed to team up well with the newcomer. What if I put you two together as a team in the near future?"

 _'There's the chance I wanted,'_ thought Sol. "If I have to." Kliff took that answer as the best chance he'd get at bringing Sol closer into the _Order._ The old warrior gave a respectful nod at the red and white garbed man before leaving. Wanting to conserve the rest of the smokes but not having anything else to do, Sol used fire magic to evaporate most of the rainwater before lying on the slab of concrete, placing his hands behind his head. "Wish I had some music to listen to; I'd kill for some _Queen_."

 ** _The Convoy_**

"We should be there soon," Matt, a young captain of the _Holy Knights,_ told his unit before wiping some rain off his dark skin and brown hair. They'd been travelling with the convoy for days, and they were actually further ahead of schedule than they'd thought. As they'd travelled the roads in their magic-powered wagons, they'd expected to come across at least five groups of Gears, but so far they hadn't seen as much as a single one.

Not to say that he was looking with a fight, but Matt was feeling somewhat over prepared with the fifty _Knights_ he'd brought with him. He himself wanted to be on front lines, slaying Gears and ending the Crusades as quickly as possible. But at the same time, he'd seen the refugee camp, the hardships that those people had to go through, how some members of the Order had family living there trying to survive the harsh conditions. Escorting the convoy might not be the job he wanted, but he was proud to do it.

"Hey partner," Tristan, Matt's lead wagon driver and long time friend, spoke up from next to him with his usual country accent. "It's been a pretty boring drive, am I right? You think the commander and Ky managed to round all of those Gears without us?"

"Maybe they did, maybe they didn't," Matt answered with a shrug. "It doesn't really matter to me. I've got better things to worry about."

"Like your sister?" Tristan asked as he shook the rain water off of his cattleman hat. Unlike the rest of the _Sacred Order of Holy Knights,_ he preferred to dress in his own cowboy style, with brown county leathers and faded jeans under a cream colored trench coat. The only things showing he was affiliated with the order was his silver rosary necklace that he wore. "Don't worry about her none, Kliff wouldn't let a damn thing happen to her."

"I guess you're right!" The wind had picked up, so Matt had to yell despite being seated next to Tristan. "Still feels weird though; I tried to join the Order so my sister'd get protection in this damn hell hole, but one year later she joins anyways and gets promoted higher than either of us!"

"You calling her one in a million or just saying we're lazy?" Tristan asked with a joking smile, before his face turned serious and he pointed. "Soldier Type, Ten o'clock."

"I see it," Matt assured him, noticing as a Gear stepped out from behind a large rubble pile. "Seems like it hasn't seen us yet. Half of my emergency jerky says you can't kill that thing from here."

"I'm drivin'! Hit it yourself!"

"Aw, can't drive and shoot at the same time?" Matt said slyly. "And here you are talking it up with the ladies of our unit, always telling them about your skills with a gun, how you never miss a target when it's in your sights."

"Really pushin' it pard," Tristan said with an angry sneer as he took out his silver revolver in his right hand and continued to drive with his left. ' _LongShot, don't fail me now,'_ he prayed to his gun before letting the arcane bullet fly. Tristan's aim was exact and the shot made contact with the Gear's forehead before the magic activated and destroyed the head in a barrage of wind slashes.

"That oughta be a good tale for the ladies!" Tristan said cockily before several Gears came out from behind other piles, all of them converging on the road in front of them, this group included dragon types. "More of them!?"

"We've got Gears coming at us from our side flanks!" one of the men in the convoy shouted. "Close to a hundred on each side!"

"We've got fifty more closing in from behind!" someone shouted from further back in the convoy. "WE'RE SURROUNDED! IT'S A TRAP!"

"DAMN IT! Everybody get ready!" Matt shouted behind him. "We're going to go full speed and break through! On my mark!"

"Matt! We try that and they'll slaughter us like cattle after a drive!" Tristan tried to convince his friend. "You've got Jill to think about! Find another way!"

"THERE'S NO TIME! We need to get as many Trucks through as we can or all of the refugees are going to die Tristan! Then the _Holy Order_ starts starving! I'm not backing out on this!"

Matt gave a heated glare at Tristan, daring the cowboy to say something. Tristan gave the smallest of glances to his longtime friend whose strategy was going to get him killed before sighing. "All right, all right, just give me a mark and I'll start the stampede."

"Steady..." Matt said as he raised his hand. The truck was closing in fast on the Gear battalion, the group on the sides were closing in to, Soldier types ready to lunge and Dragon types flying in from overhead. "Steady..." Another ten seconds and they'd be on top of the Gears. Matt started sweating, his nerves starting to finally get the better of him. He gave a silent prayer. _'Oh god almighty in heaven, though I have sinned, please let my life be penance for the survival of my comrades.'_ " **DO IT NOW!** "

Tristan slammed his boot on the gas as hard as he could, sending the truck flying forward. The other trucks followed example and accelerated to ramming speed. The Gear group blocking the convoy tensed their muscles, getting ready to lunge and latch onto the trucks to tear them to pieces.

" **BRACE YOURSELVES!** " Tristan yelled at the top of his lungs the moment before they got to the group.

Then the unexpected happened, a massive wave of darkness emerged from behind the Gears and slammed into them, destroying several of them. Those that weren't destroyed were knocked off balance and became easy roadkill for the trucks. In the end, all of the trucks broke through without a single Gear hanging on to any of the trucks.

"What the hell was that!?" Matt yelled before leaning out the side of the door. The only thing he saw when he looked back was a single member of the _Sacred Order of Holy Knights,_ dressed in a white garb with black details that flowed in the violent winds like his albino hair, wielding a giant sword which he rested on his right shoulder, walking out to meet the Gear force alone.

"What did you see!?" Tristan yelled as he kept his eyes on the road.

"I don't know! A member from _Order_ about to face those freaks by himself I think!" Matt shouted back. "We can't turn around for him now!"

"God give that man strength," Tristan said, though he'd never been much for prayer. "That idiot might've just saved all our asses..."

 ** _Back to the Battlefront_**

Ragna glanced over his shoulder as the trucks sped away at top speed. They might not be out of the woods yet, but at least they managed to break through the group of Gears without losing any of the transports.

"Well that's one problem solved," the Reaper muttered to himself before turning his attention to the massive army of Gears before him. He'd figured at least of few of them would continue to pursue the fleeing convoy, but the all seemed completely fixated on the man in front of them.

"Now it's just me versus all of them, huh? What a pain in the ass," Ragna complained before raising his right arm. "I don't need this... but let's give it a test run to make sure I can still use it."

(Cue **Metal Gear Rising** _The Only Thing I Know For Real_ Extended)

" _Restriction 666 released; Dimensional interference field deployed.'_ A surge of power burst inside of Ragna threatening to break free. The mana he was generating now was tremendous, more than five times what he'd been outputting earlier and it was still raising. An aura of darkness began to cover his very form, giving the appearance of a being of shadows. _"BLAZBLUE... ACTIVATE!"_

The Gears lunged forward as dark flames exploded around Ragna, but it was far too late. Ragna's new increase of speed was more than they could handle as he completely butchered three of them, carving them messily in half. As Ragna felt himself absorb the Gear's energy, he then channeled it into his arm in order to power another attack.

" ** _DEAD SPIKE!_** " Ragna shouted as a massive beast head of darkness emerged from the ground before him and slammed into the Gears, butchering them. " **SHATTER!** " This time a longer reaching wave of darkness flew out and smashed into the Gear group behind the first one. A group of Dragon-type gears were performing aerial dive bombs at the Reaper in hopes of ramming him. " **NO CHANCE!** " Ragna made a downward sweeping motion and burst of shadows rose before crushing the Dragon-type gears to the ground.

" **I'LL DESTROY YOU!** " Ragna shouted as he coated his entire body in black flames and rushed forward, fist first. He plowed through the line of Soldier types, completely obliterating most of them and blasting away those he didn't. Once his initial lunge had ended, he used his transformed _BlazBlue_ arm and grabbed stabbed the claw deep into a Dragon Type, giving a small spray of green blood. " **JUST DIE!** " Ragna shouted as he caused the Gear's side to explode, killing it instantly. Large fragments of its magic seeped out of its body and were then absorbed by Ragna's right arm, serving to power him further.

Ragna roared as he turned his body and unleashed a violent haymaker with _Blood-Scythe,_ his _BlazBlue_ empowering his sword, absorbing the energy of the Gears with every slash. As he finished cleaving those five Soldier types in half, he used his sword to flip more of them into the air before charging his sword with _Soul Eater_ energy and bringing the blade down, crushing his opponents.

With those few moves alone, already the ground was littered with the corpses of Gears of the first group, the downpour of rain mixing with the unnatural blood that flowed out of the fatal slashes. " ** _GAUNTLET-!_** " Ragna shouted as he began one of his signature moves, but this time with a twist. He leapt into mid air and spun his body to deliver a powerful kick that was a coated in darkness, but instead of immediately following up with another kick, he then brought his leg down on top of one of the Gears. Ragna charged a large amount of energy into his leg before unleashing a roundhouse that blasted a wave of darkness. " ** _EDGE_**!"

Yet more Gears were blasted back and ripped to pieces from the force of the attack, but there were still over half the force remaining. Ragna roared as he ran forward to meet the threat, starting with a swipe of his sword that wiped out the first few Gears before back-stepping to avoid an airborne Dragon-type's attack, a column of flames from the monster's maw. _'These sparks aren't half of what I was seeing from Sol,'_ Ragna thought to himself before retaliating. " ** _INFERNO DIVIDER!_** " He roared as he sailed skyward with an uppercut slash, cutting into the dragon before uppercutting it and performing an ax kick that sent it to the ground, causing it to crush several Gears beneath its large bulk.

Ragna then quickly transformed his sword into scythe mode before making wide ranged slashes that killed the Gears from mid distance. Ragna was now partially dancing with his scythe now, moving unpredictably and cutting down Gears with every swing. As the _BlazBlue_ gathered more and more energy his hand started to throb uncontrollably.

 _'_ _Damn it, am I overdoing with this thing?'_ Ragna thought to himself as he arm gave another pulse, now glowing with raw power. _'Maybe if I can just expel all of this energy somehow…'_ Ragna noticed all of the remaining Gears were rushing towards him. _'Now or never!'_ " **TAKE THIS!** "

Ragna brought his _BlazBlue_ in front of him and roared as he charged its power and fired through his palm, resulting in a massive blast of darkness. Ragna grunted as the force from the blast was almost more than he could handle and nearly sent him flying. His feet sunk deeper and deeper into the ground for the five seconds the blast lasted. When the move had finished, Ragna felt completely drained of any energy, but there wasn't a single trace of the Gears in front of him; that move had obliterated them all.

( _End Theme_ )

"That's some power," Ragna said to himself as he flexed his arm after catching his breath. "Took a hell of a lot of magic to use though… Maybe I can work on on using it without have to steal the energy."

At that moment, Ragna heard slow clapping. He turned his head and saw Slayer standing on a pile of debris, that bemused smile still on his face and his lit pipe in his mouth. "A most pleasant show indeed my boy, you've certainly gone and exceeded my expectations."

Ragna scowled. "So that's all I am? Some form of cheap entertainment!?"

"Oh, perish the thought," Slayer said with whimsy. "You could very well be one of the few hopes mankind has of surviving this so-called Crusade. And lest you forget, thanks to my partial intervention and your actions, you managed to save all of the refugees and quite possibly the _Holy Order's_ entire advancement in this region. I'd say that qualifies for being more than a mere actor on a stage."

Ragna wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he allowed himself to reset his sword. "Whatever, just don't make this a habit."

"You needn't worry," Slayer assured him, blowing rings of smoke through his pipe. "I'll only bring these things to your attention, should they desperately require it. I already have another investment in your group to attend to." ' _So there's someone else who knows him in the Order…'_ "A word of warning though, without your newfound powers, taking out the upcoming Gear factory by yourself is going to be near impossible for you to accomplish alone. I'd suggest getting some form of help."

"Wait, a Gear _factory_?" Ragna asked in surprise. "Is that where these things are coming from?"

"You didn't know?" Slayer said in curiousity. "Surely you didn't think that the Gears were natural beings, did you?"

"Not natural sure, but I didn't think they come from factories…" Ragna said thinking to himself for a moment. "I guess with the name _Gear_ it makes sense."

Slayer chuckled to himself. "Then allow me to let you in on another interesting fact. The Gears were developed and created by humanity to be used as weapons of mass destruction. In essence, they were created only to fight in their wars. But as you can see here, they revolted. They now follow the absolute control of the _Command Gear_ ; a being of frightening strength known only as the Type-01 Gear: _Justice._ "

"Justice?" Ragna thought to himself. "So if I kill him-"

" _Her_ actually; Justice is female," Slayer corrected. "But yes, the Gears will go dormant and the _Crusades_ will end. Much easier said than done however; your commander Kliff has done battle with Justice a fair number of times, and even when he was in his prime he barely escaped with his life. Not even I know where Justice is currently, but if you do find her proceed with utmost of caution."

"Noted," Ragna agreed. He was about to proceed on his way before a thought from earlier stopped him. "Earlier you called me a _Dhampir_. What the hell does it mean?"

"A great many things," Slayer said, his eyes seemed to be examining Ragna more closely now. "But the easiest way to describe it is that you are half of a Vampire. Since you've only slightly developed fangs and an unusual hair color, I'm guessing that your case of Vampirism isn't that powerful of one, but we cannot confirm that without you drinking blood." Slayer took out his pocket watch and checked the time. "I'd very much enjoy having another conversation with you, educating you further with the great mysteries and wonders of Vampire kind, but I'm afraid I'll need to be on my way, lest my wife try to behead me for lateness."

"Wife huh… She a Vampire too?"

It wasn't the most polite of questions, but Slayer merely chuckled to himself. "I'll let you ask her that. Until next time my friend!" Slayer then threw the red sash once more and stepping into the bat which again flew off into the dark skies.

"Well that's something you don't see every day," Ragna said to himself. "But a half Vampire? When the hell did that happen? Was it back when I got my arm? Wonder if the Rabbit ever bit me?" Ragna shook his head. "Well whatever, I better get back to camp before something more annoying happens."

 ** _The Refugee Camp_**

"Get that barrier finished quickly! Ky commanded to his fellow _Holy Knights_. "I want long ranged mages behind the walls and Gunslingers on the towers NOW! We don't know when the Gears are going to arrive!"

All around the refugee camp all of the Knights were hurrying as fast as they could… well Sol just leaned back and wait for the forces to show up, but that was pretty expected of him. The red soldier looked at ease, but he was actually focusing all of his energy on his Gear sensing spell. From what he'd heard the guys from the convoy tell Ky, the Gear group was supposed to be MASSIVE, so why couldn't he sense a single Gear in the area?

"Why aren't they here yet?" Sol heard Ky question two of the leaders of the convoy, Tristan and Matt. "You said that you encountered them about two miles away, so the group should've been here by now."

"I doubt it, but maybe that crazy bastard managed to hold those Gears off for longer I thought," Tristan said while he grit his teeth.

"Someone fought the Gears? Alone?" Ky asked in surprise. "Who was it?"

"I didn't recognize him, but he was wearing a black uniform from the _Order_ ," Matt explained. "It was thanks to him that we were able to break through in the first place."

' _That red coat from earlier?'_ Sol thought himself. _'What'd he call himself again? Ragna? What was he doing two miles out, I thought he came here to check the camp… I know he's not a Gear, but there's just something about him that isn't natural.'_

"Lieutenant Kiske!" one of the watchman called out from the tower. "Someone's approaching from the North! We can't tell who it is without the lights! Permission to switch them on?!"

"Granted!" Ky called back as one of the search lights was turned on. The guard guided the search light around until it came up to the figure; Ragna, who was covering his eyes and shouting a barrage of colorful curses to turn the searchlight off.

"No damn way," Matt said in awe as he observed Ragna walking up. "How the hell could anyone have escaped that?"

' _Something's changed about him,'_ Sol thought to himself. ' _Has he grown even stronger somehow? And those Gears he was supposed to have encountered… could he have really beaten them all?'_

"Hell of welcome," Ragna muttered under his breath as he neared Ky and Sol. "So what's with the unnessarily large flashlight anyways?"

"Where were you?" Ky asked, not answering Ragna's question. "I'd heard word that you'd encountered the convoy to the North, but how'd you know they were there?"

"I didn't," Ragna said with confidence. He'd had plenty of time on the way back to come up with an alibi. "I got to this place, saw some Gears off in the distance, went off to fight them."

"And you didn't let anyone know?" Ky asked again.

"Hey, I knew I could handle 'em," Ragna said with a smirk, then his smile faded. "Of course, that was before I saw the Gear group after the convey."

"And where are they?" Ky asked.

"Dead," Ragna told him. The rest of the _Holy Order_ went into a series of murmurs. "What? With my magic they didn't stand a chance."

"Magic or that arm of yours?" Ky asked, scowling at Ragna in deep suspicion. Ragna simply shrugged.

"Whoa there," Tristan said in his country accent as he walked between Ky and Ragna. "Let's save the Q an' A for later. Fact of the matter stands, this guy saved our asses and the rest of the refugees. I say we give 'im a break."

Ky kept his scowl for another moment before nodding in reluctance. "Very well then. The rest of you! Get those supplies unloaded and distribute them to the refugees, they've waited for food long enough." The rest of the _Order_ nodded as they headed off to distribute the food, several members of the convoy thanking Ragna as they passed. Ragna simply nodded to each of them, before turning to leave. Ky then spoke as he walked off. "I may not be able to trust, but still… thank you." The Lieutenant then excused himself.

As Ragna headed further away he saw Sol, leaning against a wall of rubble. The warrior didn't say anything as Ragna passed, he just kept looking him dead in the eye. Ragna didn't crumble under Sol's glare and stared back. Finally, Sol addressed Ragna with a simple nod.

A sign of approval? Ragna wasn't sure, but as he walked through and say the countless people literally crying tears of joy for the food that they'd been depraved of for so long, he couldn't deny it; this felt right… no. This _WAS_ right. In the short time he'd been here he found a new home, and it was with the _Sacred Order of Holy Knights._

 ** _Author's Note: Ragna's place is in the Order, mine's on fanfiction... shame I don't own anything._**

 ** _Well now, a lot of events in that chapter, including my first writing of Unlimited Ragna's fighting style. With the exception of his final move and Gauntlet Edge, every move is how it appears in the game._**

 ** _Sol: Are we on?_**

 ** _VII: Oh, so you're back. How did killing the sla-_**

 ** _Ragna: Don't get him started._**

 ** _VII: All right then, well. You've got a lot of questions this time for you two and a few of them reference Death Battle... well that should be fun (sarcasm). I'm not going to be doing the other reviews, but that's just for this once. But first, KnightSpark writes for Ragna:_**

I have a question for Ragna: Have you met Bedman? If so, do you find his habit of talking at breakneck speeds annoying? Cuz I sure as hell do.

 ** _Ragna: 'Fraid I haven't met him yet, but how annoying are we talking?_**

 ** _Sol: Several of those fast talking auctioneers often ask for him to slow down and he constantly talks down to everyone._**

 ** _Ragna: ...I'm already annoyed and I haven't met him yet._**

 ** _VII: And that's not getting into his cheapness in Xrd. Anyways shadowedge27 ask Ragna:_**

Question for Ragna: How would you feel if you find out that Nu is with the gears and she got a major upgrade?

 ** _Ragna: I'd be scared out of my damn mind, even when I'm able to beat her she creeps me out. But Storm wouldn't do that to me... right?_**

 ** _VII: Probably not, I'm not even sure if Nu's going to have any impact on this story. For all I know, she just got lost in Boundary._**

 ** _Sol: What about my question?_**

Sol: How would you feel if a monster that could potentially devour the world appear to top things off with the war?

 ** _Sol (glaring at Ragna): It feels like that's directed towards you..._**

 ** _Ragna: I'M NOT GOING TO GO BLACK BEAST ALRIGHT!?_**

 ** _Sol: You better not, it'd massacre Guilty Gear's timeline worse than I-No!_**

 ** _Next up is a Guest for a string of questions:_**

Ok guys, which of these scenarios would be more likely:  
Bang and Chipp becoming best friends (due to them being ninjas and with their 'memorable personalities')?  
Slayer and Valkenhayn fighting the classic vampire versus werewolf battle, gentleman's brawl style?  
Or Jin and Ky fighting each other?  
Btw, who do you think would win, Jin or Ky?  
To Ragna, what would you think if someone made a crossover between Blazblue and Metal Gear Rising? Honestly it would awesome seeing you taking on Raiden (with both of you being called reapers and all), and the whole Blazblue cast reacting to him throwing giant mechs around and performing awesome, over the top moves while fighting guys like Terumi and Azreal.  
To Sol, how's the idea of an omake where you fight either Jin or Azreal? Also is their going to be a spar between you and Ragna in the future and when you make the device that Fire Seal is a part of (can't remember what the device is called right now), is Ragna going to have a part it?

 ** _Ragna: Bang and Chipp, those two are going to be drawn to each other._**

 ** _Sol: I'm going with Ky facing Ragna's creepy ass brother... and as to who would win? Don't know, don't care._**

 ** _Ranga: Storm's got too much on his plate to put me in Rising, but I could've used Raiden's help. He'd make dealing with Terumi and Relius at the same time a LOT less annoying._**

 ** _Sol: Knowing story, a spar between Ragna in I is inevitable, but I'm not giving Ragna any part of my newest Junkyard Dog. And I think I'd actually like the omake idea, kicking either of their asses could be fun._**

 ** _VII: Reborn Chance Maker gives us our first DeathBattle question here for Sol, asking if he could take out the Black Beast in one blast._**

 ** _Sol (actually looking guilty)_**

 ** _Ragna: You don't have to tell them you know._**

 ** _Sol: Damn it, time to come clean. NO. Why? First, the regen factor of that thing. I can't put it down, it'll just keep healing since I don't use Ars Magus. Second... I didn't blow up that Gear the size of a Space Station._**

 ** _Ragna: Turns out, that was actually the result of a manga character named Tyr who blew that thing up, not Sol. DeathBattle had it wrong._**

 ** _VII: Wait, seriously? Then why does no one talk about it?_**

 ** _Sol: ...The magna isn't that well known._**

 ** _VII: Well, that's going to bring in letters. But now Ragna's question._**

Questions for Ragna: Beside Sol, who else do get along with outside the story?

 ** _Ragna: I can't really saw too much, otherwise I may spoil some of the story, but there are a couple of GG guys I get along with on the outside. Millia is my hair stylist, Venom and I play pool on the weekends, and I already work with Elphelt in 'A Reaper's Awakening.'_**

Also, if you had to choose, which guilty gear girl would you like to be paired with?

 ** _Ragna: Damn it, I don't know! I haven't even met any of the GG girls yet except for that OC Storm made!_**

 ** _VII: If you're reacting this badly I should skip the next question._**

 ** _Sol (snatches the paper)_**

 ** _VII: Hey!_**

 ** _Sol: ...It's asking who you're going to marring in the Fire Emblem story._**

 ** _Ragna: WHY DO I ALWAYS GET SHIPPED!?_**

 ** _VII: Take it as a complement. Most of Sol's ship stories are-_**

 ** _Sol (enraged): DON'T MAKE ME NAPALM DEATH YOU!_**

 ** _VII (sweating profusely): ... Moving on. Guest42 asks Ragna about showing up in Skyrim._**

 ** _Ragna: Skywhat?_**

 ** _VII: I'll lend you the game for a week. Go crazy._**

 ** _Ragna: ...Okay?_**

 ** _Sol: Just curious, if I had to cross something, where would you put me?_**

 ** _VII and Ragna: Dante's Inferno._**

 ** _Sol: Sweet_**

 ** _VII: Next is from TheGreyKing27 who...gives a bit of a weird intro, but asks if Sol's... Guilty?_**

 ** _Sol: OH HA HA! Like I've never heard that one before!_**

 ** _Ragna: ...That was actually the first thing Terumi trolled him with. He did it fifty times over and Sol's temper isn't that great... he sort of roasted the company picnic._**

 ** _Sol: LIKE IT'S MY FAULT!_**

 ** _VII: Lastly for Ragna, EternalCobra34 asks:_**

So Ragna, how was it meeting Cordelia the first time and hearing about her crush on Chrom? Doesn't she kind of remind you of someone?

 ** _Ragna: I kinda, see a resemblance between her and Tsubaki with that who lost love thing... I wonder how'd she look as Izayoi?_**

 ** _Sol: Exactly the damn same! THERE DONE!_**

 ** _VII: Yeesh, temper. Anyways, I'll see you all next time. Ciao!_**


	5. Waiting for the War

**_Duel IV: Waiting for the War_** (Also known as the chapter that I basically wrote 2000ish words of some tie in chapter along with a long author's note of overflowing fan mail… you could really skip this one without much consequence. Also, my thanks to my beta readers)

 _'_ _Jeez, this place really is a wreck,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he walked through the refugee camp. He'd woken close to an hour ago so with nothing else to do he decided to take a look around the town that had been converted into a camp for the civilians of war.

So far it hadn't really been the most stimulating walk, ruined building here, refugees enjoying food from the convoy there; not a whole lot going on. A welcome change though was the eventual end of the rainstorm, but it was too late to keep Ragna from getting completely soaked. Luckily his new outfit was incredibly water resistance, but Ragna's hair was definitely drooping like he'd just gotten out of the shower.

Unintentional hairstyles aside, Ragna continued his morning stroll, but then he came across a building with a familiar design; a ruined church. Maybe it was just a nostalgic whim, but Ragna decided to check it out, even if it was just for a familiar setting.

There was no one inside the church, and for good reason. The entire roof had been destroyed giving no protection from the rainstorm that, for all Ragna knew, could've lasted a few days if not longer. There wasn't a part of ground that wasn't covered in water and the wooden pews were completely soaked as well. The cross at the front was missing completely and the stained glass windows were in pieces, but Ragna still felt strangely at ease. The Grim Reaper wiped most of the water off one of the pews in the front before taking a seat.

While sitting Ragna closed his eyes and simply let his entire body relax and his mind go blank as he entered a meditative state. He didn't really know how long he'd been there, but eventually he heard light steps as someone else entered the church.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here," one Ky Kiske said as he walked down the church aisle. Ragna didn't move from his seat or offer any response. "Apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt your prayer."

"I wasn't praying, just resting," Ragna told him as he finally opened his eyes and turned his head so that it faced Ky. "I'm not really a person for religion."

"You're not?" Ky said, slightly surprised. "Then why did you choose a church to rest in?"

Part of Ragna just wanted to tell Ky off and tell him that it was none of his business, but then again if this was a new chance at life, he could at least try to be less of an ass than he was last time, and giving Ky a small chat could give him a bit of trust, making his time in the Order a little easier. "Because it feels familiar I guess. I was actually raised in a church."

"I see," Ky commented. "What was it like?"

"Well the church itself was pretty different. It was much smaller, located out in the plains. There were only four of us; my younger brother and sister, the matron taking care of us, and myself. Wasn't the nicest or easiest way to grow up, but it was home… at least until we were attacked."

"By the gears," Ky said with a sad look in his eyes, almost looking to be one of understanding.

Ragna was about to agree with him and lie, but he didn't feel like it'd do anything. That massacre had happened, and he'd NEVER forget who was responsible. "No… by something much worse." And with that dark statement Ragna got up and walked down the aisle past Ky, heading for the church's exit.

"Can I ask you something?" Ragna shrugged as he kept walking. "Where do you stand in all of this?"

Confused, Ragna stopped in his tracks. "What're you talking about? I'm with the _Order_ obviously. What? You think I just saved the convoy because I was bored?"

"Somehow I don't find that too hard to believe," Ky said a little too honestly, peeving Ragna somewhat. "But that's not quite what I was asking. I meant why are you fighting in the _Crusades_?"

"Why? I don't know, maybe because I didn't get a sense of friendship from the Gears when they tried to bite my head off,' Ragna suggested sarcastically. "Look, I'm not a people person, but that doesn't mean that I want to just sit back and wait the war out while people are dying. One thing I've never managed to learn was how to turn a blind eye."

"That's reasonable enough," Ky agreed. "I'm not sure what our next move is going to be, but make sure you're ready when we head out."

"I will be," Ragna promised as he finally left the church leaving Ky inside by himself. The young lieutenant of the Holy Knight knelt on a knee and began to pray for the success in the war and the safety of his brothers and sisters in arms.

Outside Ragna continued to walk through the town, eventually coming across two of the members of the _Holy Order_ that he'd seen in the head truck yesterday, the lead man and the his cowboy driver sitting at a pile of rubble they had arranged like a table while they played cards.

"Hey pard," Tristan said as he moved a few regular stones to the center of the table with one arm and held his hand of five cards with his other. "On patrol?"

"Not exactly," Ragna said. "Just walking around really."

"If you're keeping your eye out for trouble it's pretty much the same thing," Matt said as he moved a several stones to the center himself. "Call and raise by four Tristan."

"Huh, still trying to bluff your way out?" Tristan said with a smirk. "Nice try Matt, call and raise; All in. You wanna join us? This game's just about over."

'I'll pass," Ragna told them. "Maybe another time."

"Just offering," Tristan said as he took some jerky out of his coat pocket and took a bite out of it. "And thanks again for saving our asses, this idiot here wanted to try ramming through."

"I thought it'd be our best chance of surviving," Matt defended. "I'm just grateful that we didn't need to leave it to that chance."

"Yeah…" Tristan nodded in agreement before his smile turned to a somewhat sadistic smirk. "But I can only guess what your sister's going to say when she finds out."

Matt's expression became pained and worried. "You… don't really mean that do you? You're not really going to tell her about this, right?" Tristan just continued to smile and made a small glance to the cards his friend was holding. Matt sighed and tossed his cards to the center of the rubble table. "Fine, I fold."

"Smart move," the cowboy said with a smirk as he collected the wagered stones.

"Have fun with your card game," Ragna said as he began to head off, Tristan's smile only seemed to widen as he collected the stones. The Reaper left and the cowboy went back to winning what would've been Matt's dessert for tonight.

Eventually Ragna heard a couple of clattering sounds coming from one of the abandoned buildings. The Reaper remained alert as he placed his hand on his sword's hilt and slowly approached the building, not wanting to be unprepared should a Gear decide to lunge out of the building. As he approached the door however, he started hearing familiar muttering from inside.

"Gah… no damn good," came the voice of Sol Badguy. Ragna rolled his eyes as he reset his sword and entered the building. Sol gave a glare at his comrade as he entered, and showed little signs of lightening his expression as he realized it was Ragna. "What the hell do you want?"

"I heard noise coming from in here and thought it could be a Gear," Ragna explained. "But what are you doing in a place like this?" It was hard to tell what this building was supposed to be with the torn posters and piles of debris.

'Looking for music," Sol said as he went back to looking through his rubble pile.

"Looking for… music?" Ragna repeated, confused as hell. "Okay…"

"Idiot, you know what this is?" Sol asked as he took a large black disk out of the pile. Ragna shook his head. "This is a music record, one that operates off of magic. I'm collecting them so that when I can finally find a device to play them I'll have something to listen to."

"Oh," Ragna said as he looked at the disk. "But how do you tell what music's on this thing? It looks so beat up I doubt it'll even play."

"Some music's better than no music and I can try to repair it, plus I can't tell what plays since the artwork's so torn," Sol explained as he turned his attention back to the pile before holding out the record for Ragna to take. "If you want to make yourself useful hold on to this. I'm sure there's got to be-"

There was a sudden bright flash of light behind Sol's back. The warrior quickly turned to find Ragna staring at his right arm, the record nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell did you do!?" Sol shouted.

"I don't know!" Ragna shouted in return. "I just grabbed the thing and my arm suddenly absorbed it!"

"Your arm ATE my record!?" Sol shouted, completely outraged. "How the hell am I supposed to listen to it now!?"

"Don't look at me! How was I supposed to know that-!?" Ragna arm gave a small tingle before giving off a black spark. "What the hell!?"

( ** _Cue_** _Queen's Sheer Heart Attack Album '_ _ **Brighton Rock**_ _'_ )

It defied all sense of the very interpretation of logic, but as Sol and Ragna stared at Ragna's **_BlazBlue_** they realized that it was playing music. Ragna couldn't explain it, but suddenly magic symbols were floating around his hand, emanating the music. Not only was Sol surprised by the fact that Ragna's arm was also a music player, but more importantly…

"Th...that song," he said, looking completely speechless.

"What in god's name is going on?" Ragna groaned as he shook his arm. "Okay, how the hell do I stop this thing!?"

In a flash of grey, he suddenly found himself being held at his neck by Sol's sword, _Junkyard Dog_. " **Stop the music and I cut your head off.** "

"Eh?" Ragna uttered nervously, sweating profusely as Sol had the apparent look of a demon in his golden eyes. "What's gotten into you?"

"Sorry," Sol said, surprising Ragna even more with the apology alone as he removed his sword. "Just… don't turn off the music, all right?"

"Uh… okay?" Ragna said as he looked around the store at the other piles of broken record pieces. "You think if I collect enough pieces I'll make a complete record with my arm?"

Sol considered that for a moment. "Couldn't hurt to try… All right, you go through that pile over there, I'm going to check the back. And keep the music going."

"I got it, I got," Ragna groaned. "I totally just got turned into your personal jukebox, didn't I?"

"Well considering we're partners now…" Sol started with a slightly spiteful smile.

"When did that happen!?" Ragna shouted.

"Kliff's orders, deal with it," Sol said curtly as he made his way into the building's backroom to continue his quest for music records.

"...Asshole…" Ragna muttered under his breath as he knelt in front of the scrap pile. And thus began Ragna and Sol's rocky partnership.

 ** _Author's Note: I don't own BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, or Queen._**

 ** _Also, NEW REVIEW RULE! Guys, I'm sorry, I know you have a lot of questions you want answered, but to keep this fair one question per review. Seriously, this section's going to be larger than the actual story._**

 ** _I know that was a smaller chapter than usual (and I won't pretend that the quality wasn't a little lower than it usually is) but I wanted to give some small progress between Ragna's relationships with some of his comrades and to address the review mail I've been getting. No none questionnaire mail address this time, but if you listen to the rules this is the last time, promise._**

VII: All right, I've got the questions written down, and we're good to… where's Ragna?

Sol *shrugging*: Don't know, I texted him yesterday that the meeting was at 5. Have you seen him at all since the last update?

VII: Now that you mention it, outside of my other stories I haven't. Noel and Bullet even said that they were looking for him a few days ago…

Sol: Wait a damn minute, I'll be back…

*Sol leaves the recording room and down the hallway to the right. From what Storm VII can tell, he's heading to Ragna's room a couple of doors down. Suddenly, there's slam from a door being violently flung open.*

Ragna: What the hell man?! Haven't you heard of knocking!?

Sol: Get out! We're recording!

Ragna: I'll be there in five minutes! Just start without- Hey! Get the hell away from my Xbox! No!

Sol: Game's over! Now get up!

Ragna: I was in the middle of fighting Alduin! I could've saved in two minutes you son of a-!

Sol: We're wasting recording time! Hurry up!

Ragna: Damn you…

*The two anti-heroes re-enter the recording room, Ragna sending a heated glare at Sol while the elder warrior seems to be more passive to it. The two take their seats across from Storm.*

VII: You were playing Skyrim that entire time?

Ragna: BEATING Skyrim. I beat every side quest, leveled my main skills up to a hundred-

Sol: Got married?

Ragna (peeved): Oh ha ha! You just love to torment me with the shipping questions don't you!? ...Storm, do I have any of those questions today.

VII (Looking over the questions): Well… not any direct ones from what I can tell. More of just your general view on shipping.

Ragna: Thank god…

VII: All right, time's-a-wastin. Let's get started. We got several questions today, some for Sol, some for Ragna… and oddly enough, a few for me.

Sol: Aren't those just normal reviews?

VII: I mean they specifically asked for me, so I guess I'll just address them here. First question comes from author **_Element-OverLord_** **.**

 _To Ragna: What You Think Would Happen If You Were To Unlock Your Vampiric Powers, If You Have Any At All? I Mean, I Can See You Fight Like A Mix Of Naoto Kurogane And Alucard Of Hellsing!_

Ragna: Good question, I mean we've never really gone into that in the cannon and I don't think I'd end up like either of those guys. More like I'd probably get an even better healing factor and probably get a power boost whenever I drink blood.

Sol: That'd mean you have to get someone to drink blood from...

Ragna: Yeah… I should probably just stick with what I got. I mean that's already Slayer's thing.

VII: Reason enough, anyways Overlord's next question is for Sol. He just asks if you ended up in BlazBlue, who'd you get along with the best.

Sol: Probably the asshole sitting next to me. I mean look at us, bad asses, swordsmen, meant to destroy the world. I guess we're basically meant to be friends. That and he won't piss me off as much as most of the other characters.

Ragna (confused): But we're butting heads so much in this story…

VII: We're getting there; we just need you two to get to know each other. Alright, next review is from Blackace70 and he's got quite a few questions.

 _My main question is for Ragna: I'd like to hear your opinion on my OC: Bloodrayne. Storm already read up about and more or less gave me his thoughts on him. But I'd like to hear yours, especially on his Grimoire, what do you think of it comparing it to your? Sol and Storm, you're free to give your opinion on him as well. Especially Sol, since after all, in my AU he's your son._

Sol (disbelief): I have a son!?

Ragna: ...Well I guess he's alright, I mean he sounds like he's got a complicated back story and I wouldn't really see Nine creating something like that, but it's an idea.

VII: Well, next up...

 _Speaking of Grimoires; Sol, even though in the story you're still 'trying to figure out Ragna's power outside of the story. What do you really thinking of Ragna's Azure Grimoire, do you like it, hate it? And if you could, would you see yourself using it at some point in your life?_

Sol: I guess it could be useful, but there's no telling what the hell could happen if I attached that thing to me. For all I know it could screw up my Gear body pretty badly. I'm going to leave that to Ragna.

Ragna: There's also a rumor going around that the BlazBlue's actually my own body with my head cut off by Hakumen… Damn it, why is Mori so dark?

VII: Good question… Next question is for Ragna and it's about your One Minute Melee fight and underworlder026 basically asked the same thing.

*Ragna's expression darkens*

 _Back to Ragna; Everyone's going on and on about the Death Battle between you and Sol. But let's focus on One Minute Melee between you and Dante from Devil May Cry. Now in the scenario before you guys fought you apparently wiped out three Susanooh units and absorbed their powers before your match. Now, since I know BlazBlue pretty well now, I know that was WAY off from being accurate. I don't even think your azure can even do something like that, can it? I digress, point is, what I'm asking is; how'd you feel about that fight? Going up against Dante, the added abilities and everything._

Ragna: To be honest, I'm starting to think most mainstream media really hates me. I mean Yes, I won the fight, but the way I won was insulting. They turned me into an overpowered OC (no offense to those writing for OC's) and made me show off these abilities to look more flashy than my regular moves and left Dante in one of his earliest forms without most of his abilities. I really feel like it destroyed my character and I still get hate letters in the mail for it.

Sol: You told me that it was fan mail.

VII: Yeah, from Devil May Cry fans… and some of them can be REALLY crazy. Next question's for me.

 _To Storm; I have a couple of questions for you. First off, what made you get into BlazBlue in the first place? Second, are you okay now after that disrespect towards Ragna and yourself? I only somewhat of your little beef between the two of you. But I have to ask, what the hell's the true issue between the two of you? Sorry for asking if you don't feel comfortable._

(Author's Question begins here if you want to skip this long part)

VII (Long Story): Biography question first. It was back in my sophomore year in high school. A distant friend brought in _BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II_ to game club. I was already somewhat proficient in fighting games thanks to playing another friend in Street Fighter VI in my spare time. From the first moment the opening came up and I saw Ragna, I KNEW I was going to main as him. His character design was exactly what I was looking for.

Despite my inexperience with the game, I floored my friend in my first match Ragna vs Terumi (ironic AND iconic) and then used Ragna again to fight and won against Bang. Those were the only two matches I played that day, but a few days later I found _Continuum Shift Extend_ on Amazon for a decent price when it first came out.

I ordered the game, and started getting into it. It wasn't any Street Fighter, and it took a lot to learn, but eventually I managed to get the hang of it. I actually let the game slip for a while, but then in college I discovered Fanfiction.

Later that summer I felt like I had some time on my hands so I was struck with the thought; What if I made my own fanfiction? In the end I decided to go for it and started writing. Thinking I should start with a less known series I decided to work with BlazBlue and wrote _The Grim Reaper and the Beastkin._ Since then I've started several more stories, and Ragna's been a continuous main character for me and BlazBlue's been a common series to write for.

Sol (yawning): You done yet?

Ragna: That was kind of a long story...

VII: Nice guys, nice. Anyways, now for the second part. For those of you who don't know, up until recently there was this author on fanfiction who was something of a troll (and unlike Terumi, we didn't love him for it… like at all). He was pretty… uh, blunt in his apparent hatred for Ragna. He made several series about killing him.

Ragna: Wasn't really that pleasant to read.

VII: Now don't get me wrong, I don't have too much of a problem with a story killing characters I enjoy. Hell, I did it once to Ragna.

Ragna (slight outrage): What!?

VII: It was that one shot I made that no one took seriously. (Not salty by the way.)

Ragna: Oh.

VII: His way of doing it though lacked creativity and it was apparent he was just making it to spite the people who like Ragna. Anyways, I actually reached out to the guy and managed to convince him to remove it and he said he'd start apologizing with… but then he wrote about an OC of his killing Ragna in a completely inaccurate matter.

Sol: That sounds… okay, not even going to comment.

Storm: In the end I lashed out against him and wrote a satire story and switched the roles to where Ragna defended himself and managed to massacre the OC. I took it off of fanfiction after a while (as he did with his story), but some people wanted to read it, so I actually put it on a YouTube video for Ragna's theme in the comments section. It's titled **RAGE** , so give it a read if you want. I'm not exactly proud of it, but people still want to read it.

Ragna: And you're cool now?

VII: Yeah, I am. Just let some steam off and managed to talk it out with the guy. He's actually leaving BlazBlue alone for now and is writing for Dragon Ball. But anyways, next question.

(Author's part ends)

And lastly for all three of you, since no one's made question about your SAO crossover. Storm, Sol, Especially Ragna, what do you guys think of Kirito as a whole? I'd give my opinion, but then the review would be a whole screen long.

Sol: That's a lot of questions…

Ragna: That was all one person?!

VII: We're working on it. As for my opinion, I'm okay with Kirito, I just don't see the real point of him.

Ragna: Yeah… I mean it's not like his skill is miles above the other players. I mean what's he got? Higher numbers and a skill that no one else has… that lets him use two swords at once. Not exactly that uncommon in video games.

Sol: Yeah, making two swords an amazing ability only works in Kingdom Hearts II. *Ragna and VII give him odd looks* What? I play it sometimes.

VII: Just didn't…

Ragna: ...Seem like the type of game you'd play.

Sol: Well I do, so there.

VII: AND NOW, next review from donkike07.

 _I only have one question for Ragna. What is your posture in working in crossovers?, because I want to see more of you in other worlds, especially the ones with beautiful and powerful females... don't get me wrong Sol I want to see you too because I'm tired of only read yaoi about you but I prefer a history with the grim reaper like the main character because, face it, a lot of male main characters with many girls after they are very weak, naive, idiot, pervert, timid, coward OR a combination of all previous traits, and Ragna is more badass that all of them combined together. I hope to read your answer in the future._

Ragna: Well when you put it like THAT I'm flattered. I guess I just start getting tired of the shipping because I've literally been shipped by almost everything. Hell, I think Litchi was about to start writing a blog shipping me with that piece of buttered toast I had for breakfast.

Sol: A piece of toast? How do you NOT lose it with shit like that?

Ragna: You get used to it after a while. Anyways, I can actually dig working in crossovers, but that's just if I'm in a setting that I can work in. Some crossovers just aren't for me.

VII: I actually have a plan for that…

Ranga: Pardon?

VII: Nothing. Let's just check my word count and… this section is already as long as the chapter itself.

Sol: Should've written more.

VII: I wanted to answer all of these letters and get the new guidelines down! Anyways next question is from a guest.

 _To Ragna, which one would you work with:_

 _Raiden from MGR (I know you said what you thought before, but elaborate more on it), Dante from Devil May Cry, or both? What do you think would be the advantages and disadvantages of working with either or both of them?_

 _Also Ragna, your next line is, Why hasn't Arc Systems killed off Terumi yet?_

 _While on the subject of JoJo, what would more awesome, Jotaro and Star Platinum beating Terumi into a bloody pulp, or Josuke using Crazy Diamond to literally rearrange Terumi's face/doing what he did Angelo (I.e. fusing him into a rock)?_

Ragna: I'd have to say Raiden for sure. He's easier to get along with than Dante and I think we'd actually make friend pretty quickly. Dante's strong, but he'd probably just end up pissing me off. As for Terumi, one word: popularity. And I don't want anyone else taking down that asshole. He's mine.

Sol: Honestly, I don't see myself working well with anyone too over the top. Hell, Ky and Sin are pretty normal and they still piss me off.

VII: Eh, keep an open mind you never know. Next is from Reborn Chance Maker where he asks you both.

 _For both: When it comes to strength, speed, intelligence, endurance and destructive power, which one of you is better in each category?_

Ragna: Another comparison… Well let's do this. Strength goes to Sol. My abilities are meant more for regeneration, but he's just brute power.

Sol: Ragna's got speed I guess, most of his attacks do multiple hits and he's pretty agile with his attacks.

Ragna: I might not be portrayed as a genius, but Sol was a scientist before the Crusades, so he knows what he's doing… not saying I don't. I'm just in a huge, complicated plot.

Sol: Ragna's regeneration makes him tough to put down. I may have healing factor, but not only is his better than mine, but it's actually already facing weapons capable of disabling it regularly. Last is destructive power.

VII: Hmm… easier to activate Full Power Dragon Install versus World Eating Black Beast whose severed head can wipe out a Super Weapon without much trouble? I call tie.

Ragna: Yeah, sounds about right.

Sol: Fair enough.

VII: He's also asking about our company picnics.

Ragna: Well our last company event was a picnic… which Sol roasted.

Sol: YOU KEEP BRINGING THAT UP!

VII: Jam had made enough curry food to feed us all, including the entire Kaka tribe! Can you imagine how long that took her to make!?

Sol: I can.

VII: HOW!?

Sol: Ragna's not the only one who gets hate mail.

Ragna: Huh, well back to the picnic we've actually had three events so far. The last one well…

 _*Le Flashback*_

"Hold your ground! Hold your ground!" Ky shouted as he rapidly fired his gun in all directions.

"We're surrounded on all sides!" Tager shouted as he fired his arm cannons. 'We're trapped by the fortress!"

"Please stop your bickering," Zato-1 told everyone. "This is a simple matter of-"

Instantly spots of red appeared over his body. He grunted as he was forced to the ground under the fire.

"LORD ZATO!" Venom cried out in anguish.

"Yeesh, they've good aim," Kagura noted worriedly. "We're not looking too good here guys."

"Retreat my brothers!" Bang shouted at the top of his lungs as he hefted an AK-47. "To the inside of the fortress! We shall stage our final valiant defense there!"

"NO!" Venom cried as he ran to where Zato had fallen. "I refuse to leave my lord!"

"It's no use, he's gone and kicked it!" Axl Low shouted. "We gotta run!"

"MY LORD!" Venom shouted as he took a ready position in front of the former assassin leader. "COME OUT YOU HARPIES!"

The next moment Venom felt something knock against his foot. His eyes widened as he realized it was a grenade.

Inside the fortress the group heard Venom scream over the explosion.

"Told 'im," Axl decided to point out. He got a couple of glares from that, but just shrugged it.

"I know things look grim," Bang encouraged the others. "But the fire in my chest tells us that we shall prevail! We need only-!"

"Oh my god guys! We're all dead! Dead!" Chipp shouted as he began pulling on his hair, appearing more crazed than the others had ever seen him. "Do you hear me!? DEAD! 100% chance of failure! We're goners! We can't-!" *Smack* "Ow!"

"Time spent complaining of a battle is time spent towards your downfall," Hakumen told the ninja.

"It's all the old man's fault," Sin moaned. "The other team's scientist took time to upgrade their gear, what the hell were you doing!?"

"Smoking," Sol said as he took another puff from his cig before turning to Ragna. "C'mon, we've been through worse than this. We'll be fine."

That was when the fort doors were blown off their hinges, burying Chipp and Bang beneath them. Jin was about to react, but a shot to the head sent him sprawling to the floor. In the hallway there were two figures; one in a bridal based combat dress and bunny ears, another in a white sleeveless top and a blue skirt. Both of them were holding handguns with sadistic smiles on their faces.

"WEEEEE'RE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!" Noel Vermillion and Elphelt Valentine said cheerfully as their allies approached from behind.

"...You were saying?" Ragna addressed to Sol.

"I've been wrong before..."

On a ledge above the battlefield where the men inside the fort screamed as they were overwhelmed by the girls, an author sighed to himself as his face was buried into the palm of his hand. "I swear to god… if I never organize another paintball battle of the sexes, it'll be too soon."

* _End of Flashback_ *

Ragna: It was messy… It took us guys months to get all of the paint out of our hair.

Sol: Yeah… but if you-!

VII: Hey, I promise to not talk about the first one! You don't have to get so defensive! Anyways, now for Ragna's question.

 _For Ragna: First off, sorry about the whole paring questions but let's face it after the shit you went through as a kid you need a girl. I recommend Noel but hey your choice. Second, the question, what is Blood Scythe made of?_

Ragna: So you ship me and Noel… I guess I can see where people like you are coming from and at least you're letting it be my choice… Well Noel's nice and all, but I mean why'd she take an ass like me anyways.

Sol (muttering under his breath): Constant denial…

Ragna: As for Blood-Scythe… I really don't know. I mean if I went back in time as Bloodedge and gave it to Celica before getting it the first time, when was it made? The sword and my jacket are fricken' time paradoxes!

VII (whistles): That's pretty badass. Now for Sol.

 _For Sol: Do you think you can beat Jubei or Hakumen?_

Sol: Well if Mori actually showed us what the two could do at full strength I'd have a better idea now wouldn't I!?

Ragna: Oh get real! Talk to me about the Gear Maker!

VII: Guys, guys, calm down. It's my turn for a question anyways.

 _For The awesome author: Can you read my story Crimson Mystery and tell me what you think of it?_

VII: I read the story, but if you want my opinion on it just send me a Private Message. I'll give you my thoughts there. Now for my next set of questions asked by Marconator360.

 _To Ragna: I know that the excessive pairing can be a little annoying, but in the end would you prefer to live the rest of your life alone after all you have done or have a loved one to share it with? Don't you think that you deserve a good time after all you have been trough?_

Ragna: You've got a point… I guess living alone would be less of a hassle, but I wouldn't feel as I don't know, fulfilling. I guess I'll eventually settle down with someone. Question is who?

Sol: I guess that's what the fans are trying to help you with.

VII: So you're telling me…

Sol: Yep, The Fanbase: World's largest dating site.

Ragna: ...Damn it.

VII: Now Sol's question

For Sol: Would you be jealous if Ragna got the pairing and not you?

Sol: Why the hell would I be jealous?

VII: Well if he was paired with Aria…

Sol: If you even THINK of going there, I swear to god I'll slowly burn off ever pubic hair on you, one by one!

VII (worried): I was just joking. But the next questions for Ragna about Teru-

Ragna: I'll kill him.

VII: But I didn't even-

Ragna: I'll kill him, end of story.

VII: ...Alright then. (I know you had another question, but I'll PM you about it). I guess that's it…

*A letter suddenly comes flying in through the window*

VII: Seriously, right when I'm finishing this up. Last call much? This one's from Being of Grey, and he's writing to Ragna and I asking:

 _I actually have a question about "A Reaper's Awakening" for you Storm and Ragna, let's say that Ragna married Cordelia, wouldn't that make Severa's inferiority complex even worse due to the fact that her mother's a supposed perfect genius and her father is by far the strongest and best fighter in the Shepherds?_

Ragna: Should I take this as a ship?

Sol (checking the story reviews): I dunno, it does look like it's one of the bigger pairings, but it sounds more hypothetical.

Ragna Well to answer the question I guess I could see that happening as one of the plot points, but that's still kind of an if.

VII: Not really as big of one. Even though I'll be giving you support conversations with the future kids anyways, you'll still have them with all of the characters as if you were their dad in the omakes.

Ragna: ...You know how many extras you're right now?

VII: I'VE GOT TO KEEP THINGS INTERESTING! Well until next time guys!

Sol: See ya.

Ragna: ALDUIN IS MINE!


	6. Let's Rock!

_**Duel V: Let's Rock!**_

Ragna, Sol, Ky, and a large group of _Holy Order_ troops walked along the path back to the headquarters. They'd left the refugee camp under a strong guard and were starting to escort the people in them further away from the frontlines and deeper into the Order's territory. From what Ragna understood the Order's scouts had finally found enough info to tell them where the Gear factory was supposedly located.

While most of the soldiers including Ky Kiske were worried about the upcoming battle that was risky at best, Ragna was currently more concerned with avoiding Sol Badguy. Since his arm had been revealed to have the ability to absorb magic records and play the songs that were on them, Sol had continually insisted that Ragna follow him and play music. Frankly, Ragna had never really been one for learning music, but if he had all of Sol's favorite album, _Queen's_ _**Sheer Heart Attack**_ , unintentionally memorized lyric for lyric and note for note since just this morning then he knew this had gone way too far.

Avoiding Sol meant blending in with the other troops. Ragna had quickly caught on that Sol hated company, and he'd never worked with others (which left the Reaper somewhat pissed that he'd been singled out) so he decided to travel in a group. This proved to be a little more annoying, given the barrage of questions he'd been getting from the other recruits, but if he had to listen to _Killer Queen_ one more time he'd lose it.

"So you got that sword from your master?" one of the members from the order asked.

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago," Ragna said passively. Giving the right information was a bit difficult, but Ragna was confident he could keep himself out of hot water.

"So…" Tristan the began, adjusting his cowboy hat. "Have a girlfriend? Someone you want to finish this war for?"

"What!?" Ragna instantly spout out. "Where the hell did that come from!?"

"Just trying to find out a little bit more about our little 'man with no past,'" Tristan said with a casual shrug. "So, do ya?"

"None of your business!" Ragna shouted.

"Aw, someone's getting defensive," a female member of the order teased as Ragna began to blush. "C'mon yes or no will work."

"Then _no_ ," Ragna said heatedly. "Never planned on having anyone, never will."

"A real barrel of laughs, ain't ya?" Tristan said with a sigh. "C'mon man, you've got to have someone to look out for. What's the point of living life without that special someone?"

"Less annoyances for one thing, more money in my wallet for another," Ragna reasoned. "Do you really think the _Crusades_ is really the best time to start dating?"

"It's actually not that bad of an idea," Matt, the convoy leader, told him. "It could be a distraction, something to keep your mind off of the fighting. That, and you always fight harder when you have someone that you need to look out for."

' _I wouldn't know,_ ' Ragna thought to himself bitterly. ' _It's always been just me looking for revenge against a world controlling government, now I'm in the middle of the Crusades and I'm supposed to save the world by being a team player? Talk about a change of roles._ "

"Just think about it," Tristan said with a smirk. "After all, you don't want end up lonely and grumpy like a certain hot head do you?" Sol scoffed in the background. "Find someone to fight for, make some friends, it'll keep you from going crazy."

"Don't expect a miracle," Ragna told them off as he started walking further ahead of the group. If it was discussing love life or risk being forced to play _Queen_ for Sol, Ragna suddenly felt the need to listen to a little more _Tenement Funster._

 _ **Back at the Base**_

Since it was getting late, Ragna was sitting on a concrete slab enjoying his dinner. Since they'd managed to get more supplies, Ragna actually managed to add some protein bars to his regular jerky and water meal. Currently he was sitting by himself behind a pile of rubble, trying to get some seclusion and keep away from Sol. Despite hiding himself, he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Hey." Ragna recognized the voice. He looked up and saw Julia, the woman who'd started teaching him magic. For those of you who don't remember what she looks like, slightly dark skin, crimson hair in a long ponytail that went to her waist, wears glasses and a standard green issued _Holy Order_ uniform, and wields a spear.

"Hey," the Reaper said in return, not making an effort to start a conversation.

"I heard about what you did for the convoy, so I wanted to thank you," Julia said, a little intimidated by Ragna's constant scowl.

"I was just there and I did what I needed to, simple as that. No need to thank me, alright?" Ragna said with a huff.

"Well I do, I mean my brother and a close friend of mine were leading that convoy, and from what the guys were saying without you they wouldn't have had a chance. First the refugee camp and now the convoy, people are actually starting to have faith that we're going to survive the _Crusades_."

"Don't make a big deal out of it. I had Sol with me, remember?"

"Not when you saved Matt and Tristan. Those two are all I have left… After my dad died fighting in the war and mom died from a disease in the camps Matt tried to provide for me as best he could. Back then he was a lot more stubborn than he was today, so when we were in the refugee camps he was convinced the _Order_ was taking most of the food for its soldiers."

Ragna stayed silent and continued eat, the food in his mouth tasting a little worse.

"He found out that wasn't true, but he still wanted to join in exchange for having Kliff take care of me. Kliff agreed and… I don't really know the details, but apparently he'd just lost his son. Matt joined the _Order_ and Tristan, who's been my friend before I could walk, followed him. From what I can understand the two got into some scrapes… so I started having Kliff train me."

"And that's how you got here today," Ragna commented as he put his food away.

"That's how I got here," Julia said before turning to smile at the Reaper. "So now you know what it means when I say thank you."

Not used to be thanked, Ragna felt a little uncomfortable. "Whatever," he said passively, not making eye contact with Julia.

Julia gave a small sigh. "You should really try to open up a little. Right now that forsaken uniform of yours is the least of your worries to making friends."

"I'm not looking to make friends, and I already heard all of this from that cowboy on the road," Ragna scoffed. ' _That and some more annoying advice.'_

"Sounds like something Tristan would say," Julia said. "He's always been like that, ever since we were kids."

"You got a thing for him?" Ragna asked, surprising himself that he'd decided to ask.

"No, not really," Julia told him. "He's always been more of another older brother to me. He's quite a character, ladies man at one point, caring husband to his wife the next."

"He's got a wife?" Ragna questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, he's been married for about a half year now," Julia told him with a small smile. "His wife, Sarah, was a lot like us. She lost her parents a when she was young and she's helping the order by acting as a medic in one of the refugee camps. He's always been a flirt, but his wife makes sure he doesn't go too far with it."

"Tch, to get married in the middle of this hellhole," Ragna shook his head. "Talk about bad timing."

"Actually, timing was why they'd decided to do it then. We'd just lost a battle and casualties were higher than they've ever been. Tristan's proposal came completely unexpected, but the very next day the entire order and the rest of the refugee camp was at his wedding. It was small, and we couldn't do much, but in the end it help raised moral. That cloud of depression above us disappeared and we started winning battles again."

"Alright, but what's you point to all of this?"

"There's not really a point to make," Julia admitted before giving a small smirk. "But I got you to listen to me at least. If I can get you to listen, maybe I can get you to open up."

"Sorry, you say something?" Ragna said to her. He'd tried to say it in order to be rude so that she'd leave him alone, but neither of the two could keep a straight face and Julia giggled while Ragna gave off a small chuckle. "All right, I'll try not to be a stand-offish ass ALL the time."

"Good, I think that's supposed to be Sol's job anyways," Julia said with a smile.

"Oh, is it?" came the familiar voice. Julia yelped as Sol Badguy stepped out from around the rubble pile, his face looking crosser than usual.

"Don't tell me that you're stalking me for more music," Ragna groaned. "I've already got enough problems without being your personal CD player."

"Well how else am I supposed to listen to music?" Sol grunted. "But that's not what I came here for. The plan's been set and it looks like we're finally going to tackle the factory at dawn."

"Bout time," Ragna grunted as he stood "So what's the plan?"

"You're with me; you do as I say, you try not get yourself killed, and most of all you stay out of my way," Sol told him gruffly as he turned to leave.

"Okay, now hold on a damned minute!" Ragna growled as he stood. "If we're going to be partners it's about time I cleared something up; I ain't taking orders like some second rate sidekick and I'm not just your source of music! I'm SICK of listening to _Queen_! I've got their songs stuck in my head and it's a living hell!"

"Not my problem," Sol told him uncaringly.

"Maybe I don't know everything about how this thing works with music, but nothing's stopping me from figuring out how to delete every track on this damn thing!"

"You're threatening me?" Sol asked slightly enraged as the two got in each other face and butted heads (literally). Julia could practically see the violent sparks between Sol's golden eyes and Ragna's green and red ones. "Funny, just yesterday I remember coming across this cripple that couldn't even use magic, and now you think you're tough because of a stupid arm and some music?"

"You're. Not. My Boss. Hell, I don't even want you as a partner because of all the crap you pull with me you asshole! I'd rather beat the shit out of you!" Ragna told him.

"You trying to pick a fight?" Sol vented at Ragna.

"Well I'm not backing down from one, what about you?" Ragna vented back.

"Guys… stop… please?" Julia pleaded, but neither man seemed to have heard her.

"There's a clearing fifty kilometers to the west, we'll settle this there." Sol told him as he backed his face away.

"Fine with me," Ragna said darkly as the two proceed to run off, leaving a very worried Julia behind.

The spearwoman watched the two depart for just a moment, trying to consider what she could say that would make them stop. In the end she decided to inform Kliff what was going on; the commander had the best chance out of anyone to stop the two. She only hoped that she was fast enough so the two wouldn't kill each other.

Neither man said anything on their way to the area Sol had described was close to an circle clear of the ruble which looked like it was placed on an old roadway still covered by the rain water from the last few days. There were crumble buildings along the edges, giving the setting something of an arena feeling with tall ruined buildings in the distance. Ragna and Sol took their places on opposite sides of the center.

( _Cue Guilty Gear II Overture_ Misadventure)

"Last chance to back out," Sol said as he got into a ready stance.

"Why don't you take it?" Ragna spat at him before he drew his sword.

"Punk," Sol muttered before he and Ragna roared and rushed forward, their feet splashing through the water as they did.

 _ **HEAVEN OR HELL**_

 _ **FINAL**_

 _ **LET'S ROCK!**_

 _Blood-Scythe_ and _Junkyard Dog_ clashed, sending sparks flying as the two entered a lock with their blades. Sol managed to to push Ragna back before bringing his blade down, but the Reaper avoided the blow by side stepping to his right. Sol adjusted his sword swing that it'd follow Ragna, but the attack was deflected by _Blood-Scythe_.

" _ **BLOCKHEAD BURST**_!" Sol shouted as sent a series of explosions at Ragna. The Reaper blocked the attack by using a barrier Ars as Sol's attacks slammed into the shield before he dropped the guard and made a low slash for Sol's legs. While Sol guarded against the attack, Ragna flipped his body into midair for a kick to Sol's head while his target went for skyward knee strike.

" _ **GAUNTLET HADES!**_ " **  
**" _ **STORM VIPER!**_ "

Attacks of flame and darkness struck each other, causing sparks to fly and the ground to shake sending up a small burst of water under where the collision took place. The two landed on the ground with their backs to each on other sides of the water wall before quickly to slash each other cleanly cutting through the water while their blades clashed. The two sent several more bladed attacks at each other cutting the wall from earlier into tinier pieces before it could dissipate. Sol sent a final downward slash while Ragna countered it with an upward one, cutting the water in half one last time as it started to dissolve into mist.

" _ **SAVAGE FANG!**_ " Sol shouted as he sent a giant wall of flames at Ragna from the ground, instantly turning the mist to steam. Ragna responded readily by channeling his _Soul_ _Eater_ drive and roaring as he brought his sword down, dispersing the flames and sending a massive blast of steam in all directions.

" _ **FAFNIR!**_ " Sol shouted as he charged his flames with blade and stabbed it at Ragna's feet with the Reaper mirrored Sol's attack with his own dark version. Their collision and impact in the ground caused created a giant indent in the ground and caused a great tremor.

Ragna twisted his body in a powerful roundhouse slash and Sol grunted as he felt blocked the giant sword with his own blade. ' _I haven't taken my limiter off yet, but he's making me fight seriously.'_ He stepped out of the blade lock and leapt the the air and delivered a bandit revolver attack at Ragna, which hit a glowing barrier. ' _He's hiding something… but let's see what this kid's got as he is. I can't take my headband off anyways.'_

" _ **DEAD SPIKE**_!" Ragna shouted as he sent a giant demon-beast head from the ground towards Sol. The Holy order member grunted as he blocked the attack, but allowed the blow to push him back as he skidded across the ground. When he stopped moving he began charging his Fire Magic as Ragna rushed towards him. "TOO SLOW!"

Sol didn't move until the Reaper's blade was nearly on top of him, but he sent out a burst of fire around his entire body. Ragna wasn't harmed much by the attack, but it was enough to send him flying. " _ **GUN BLAZE!**_ " Sol rushed forward, three burst of flames spouting from the ground. Ragna grunted as he was by the first burst, sending him into the second, then the third. As he took the last hit he craned his head to find Sol waiting for him with a flame charged punch. The attack was dead on, sending Ragna flying through the air before he crashed deep into one side of the rubble pile.

"COME ON!" Sol yelled as a ruined building a mile off crumbled from the force of the battle. "I thought you said you were gonna beat the shi-"

Ragna burst out of the wall, his body bloody and his clothes torn, and rushed towards Sol at amazing speeds. The older warrior grumbled as he didn't think that Ragna would have fallen for the trick before unleashing a _Gold Burst_ which would give him an edge in combat. But, after activating it he didn't see Ragna.

"Yeah… I did."

As Sol quickly looked up to the source of the voice and his eyes widened at the vision of his opponent and the scythe he wielded. Ragna brought the blade down harshly, drawing blood from Sol and putting him off guard. He then quickly reverted the weapon to a sword and stabbed the blade down and cut Sol against his thigh before swinging his blade upwards and cutting him across the chest with enough force to send him airborne. The Reaper then leapt up in the air after his target before grabbing his cloak's collar and smashing his fist into Sol's face, sending him flying back into the rubble pile with enough force to cause the ground to shake, the pile to fall over him, and another building in the distance to crumble.

' _I hope that did something, this guy's a monster. We might be matching each other blow for blow now, but he's hiding something BIG. What the hell would happen if either of us actually went all out?'_

A burst of intense flames came from the pile where Sol had landed, sending flaming debris flying in all directions. The Gear Hunter grunted as he stood from where he had landed, his outfit was torn and now he was looking a little bloodier.

The two said nothing as the charged each and resumed battle with their swords, the metal constantly clashing as steel met steel countless times in a frenzy of attacks. By the end of the combination, Ragna made and upward slash as Sol attacked with a fist coated it fire before following up with other attacks.

" _ **TYRANT-!**_ "  
" _ **CARNAGE-!**_ "

Another clash of a flaming fist and _Blood-Scythe_. Sol gripped _Junkyard Dog_ with both hands and charged huge amount of fire magic into it while Ragna channeled _Soul Eater_ into his sword.

"- _ **RAVE!**_ "  
"- _ **SCISSORS!**_ "

The attacks of fire and darkness collided, creating a massive explosion of the mixed magics. Sol and Ragna were both forced back as their attack was already enough to make the ground itself rumble from the force. Both fighters took advantage the instance they stopped skidding.

" _ **ROCK IT!**_ "  
" _ **HELL'S FANG!**_ "

The two lunged forward at each other, meeting directly in the center of the area as their fist's met the other's face. The shockwave produced was enough to rip the previously flat ground apart and sent both of the two fly back into the walls of rubble.

 _ **DOUBLE KNOCK OUT!**_

(End theme)

Ragna grunted as he managed to pick himself out of the wall as Sol did the same. The two were both breathing heavily after the brutal struggle that had just taken place.

"So… did I make my point?" Ragna asked as he slowly approached Sol, not sheathing his sword yet. The two's healing factors was now kicking in and starting to help them recover.

"I guess…" Sol told him passively, before giving a nod of acceptance. "Fine, do what you want. I hate being in charge anyways."

"Good, and I figure I shouldn't delete your _Queen_ music," Ragna said as he reset his sword, seeing as the battle was over. "Guess I was kinda a dick."

"Kinda?" Sol questioned with an actual smirk.

"Don't push it Badguy, I don't think you were much better," Ragna grunted. "We should be getting back, I don't want the Order to worry about us."

"Fine," Sol said as the two allies began walking back to the base.

"So… want some travelling tunes for the road?" Ragna decided to offer.

Sol thought to himself for a minute. "Pretty sure we managed to find a Billy Joel record back at the shop. He's supposed to be pretty decent." Ragna nodded as he activated his BlazBlue and started playing the music.

 **Cue** _**We Didn't Start the Fire**_ **or one of his other hits if you want**

"Well there's that," Ragna said before looking down at his torn uniform. "So what're we supposed to do about these?"

Sol's arm glowed in a strange green he before he touched his red uniform. Immediately the rips on the uniform began to close and the grime disappeared.

"This isn't too hard of a spell, you probably can use it since you just watched me," Sol told him. Ragna tried focusing his BlazBlue to copy the wavelength he'd sensed from Sol's. It worked well enough and he managed to repair his black uniform.

"Useful, kind of wish I had this when I lost my coat; might've been able to save some of it" Ragna said as the two walked on. "I gotta say, you really know how to throw a punch."

"That so? Well you're not half bad yourself," Sol admitted as he took out and lit a cigarette. "Best fight I've had in a while."

The journeyed together for a while until they made it back to their base, but upon arriving back they saw that most of the members were in lockdown trying to stay out in the open to protect themselves while reinforcing structures.

"Weird," Ragna said as the two split up. As he walked around the camp he found Julia sighing as she exited Kliff's tent as he and Ky discussed the specifics to their strategy. When she caught sight of Ragna she quickly rushed over to him. "What's going on?"

"What the heck happened to you!?" she demanded of the Reaper. "One moment I see you and Sol run off to battle to the death and the next there's an earthquake before I can warn Kliff! I'm just glad that it stopped the two of you from finishing that stupid fight and killing each other!"

' _Earthquake?_ ' Ragna thought to himself, before realizing that his brawl with Sol could have been what caused that. ' _Guess we both took things a little too far._ '

"Well?" Julia said as he she put her hands on her hips and glared at the Reaper awaiting his answer.

"We uh… we talked it out and decided to come back?" Ragna defended weakly, his fake smile clearly giving him away. The smack he received on his forehead was enough to tell him that Julia hadn't bought it. "Hey…"

"Idiot," she groaned before leaving him in a huff.

' _What in the seven hells was that about?_ ' Ragna thought to himself before shrugging it off. ' _Well whatever, we're going to be attacking the Gear Factory tomorrow and I'm going to need to be sure that I'm ready for whatever happens.'_

 _ **Author's Note: If I owned BlazBlue and Guilty Gear I probably would have made a Crossover game by now. Clearly, I don't.**_

VII: Now before we begin the character reviews, I'm giving a gaming announcement and a call to service with Ragna and Sol.

Ragna: Nothing's been confirmed yet, but me, Storm, and a lot of fans are concerned about Arc Systems Work's upcoming plan for English dub in Central Fiction. As far as I can tell none of the English voice actors has even heard from Arc.

Sol: That and the fact that Revelator isn't going to be getting dubbed anytime soon, I think we've got a legit reason to worry about all of this, so the three of us are trying to come up with a way to help. Guilty Gear might be okay without dubs to some (we've already done it several times before), but BlazBlue's always dubbed since game one.

VII: It's not much, but if I can bring attention to this I'll do what I can. If someone know's how and where to send our opinions of this to the people of Arc, leave it in the Reviews so that everyone can help. All I'M asking is that if you send a letter about this be respectful, we don't know if they are going to do dubbing, but at the same time it's still unclear whether they WON'T.

Ragna: So, we gonna get started with the reviews?

VII: Sure thing, let's do it. _Danmaku-Overlord_ asks:

 **Thanks For Answering My Previous Question. For The New Ones:**

 **To Ragna And Sol About Jojo's Bizarre Adventure:**

 **-What is the part of all 8 series that you both like the most and the one you least like?**

 **-If you both ended in any part, which one would it be and what would you do then?**

 **-If you both had Stands, what they would be like?**

 **-With what JJBA characters you both would get along best with?**

 **Now One For Ragna:**

 **-Do you know that after your Act 3 Arcade ending in CF, people are comparing you to Lelouch of Code Geass due to how similar, to some extent, your plans are like? What you think?**

Sol: Honestly Ragna and I don't really pay attention Jojo's bizarre adventure all that much. As far as my stand though, probably my _Queen_ special unit from Overture.

Ragna: Mine would at the very least have something to do with the Black Beast or a Reaper. As far as our plans I guess I can see the resemblance, I mean it's there, but not all that obvious.

VII: Let's see… _Knight Spark_ asks:

 **Ragna, would modify you your Blood-Scythe just as Sol did his Fireseal?**

Ragna: Maybe I would if I was ever given a design change. *laughs* In the story though, I don't know, I've always liked this thing the way it was. It just seems to fit.

Sol: You never know until you try, maybe you can finally add the Gunblade people have been asking about.

VII: Yuuki Terumi ouroboros master asks if we could change anything in fanfiction what it would...

Sol and Ragna (together): No Yaoi including us.

VII: Well… that was short and expected. Blackace70 writes to us with a few questions, but I think I can handle these.

 **Sol YOU play Kingdom Hearts?! When, How, Where the hell did this come from?!**

Sol: Hey I can enjoy a good action RPG like the rest of them, what so wrong with me playing one. But if you're asking how I found it, I once saw May and Johnny screwing around trying to beat this silver haired asshole with a long katana. I told them what they were doing was sad and they dared me to do better… I lost, but I decided I'd give it a try from the start and stuck with it so far. The sound track ain't bad, but I still listen to _Queen_ while level grinding.

Ragna: I got into KH myself a while ago, I dunno. It's one of the few things my brother and I can agree that we both like.

VII: And obviously I play myself and I've already pre-ordered KH 3… though I was a bit peeved when 3D only turned out to be a plot insert money cow (though it was still good gameplay wise). Anyways, for Ragna:

 **Having your Grimoire, one of the most powerful weapons to ever exist, be reduced to Sol's personal music player. Damn, that's gotta hurt your pride. I swear at this point, Storm has no problems messing around with your entire character. But anyways your question; Ragna often times you argue back and forth with Rachel, I swear you two act like brother and sister.**

 **My question is, what if one day, you encountered Rachel. But instead of her usual condescending attitude; she was more genuinely caring, compassionate, and supportive. How would you react/feel? Accepting of it, creeped out, or find it to be a nice change of pace?**

Ragna: Well I lashed out against Sol this chapter and I'd say it went okay. But as far as Storm goes with messing around with my character, he's at least nicer to me than most people at Arc… and the rest of Social Media. And Rachel being caring, compassionate, and supportive. I dunno, I guess I'd be suspicious at first, then I'd actually enjoy it… but eventually I would (and I can't believe I'm saying this) miss the old rabbit. Something about our back and forward insults actually helps to relieve boredom on some occasions.

Sol: Provided Valkenhayn isn't listening so they tag team you… which often happens.

Ragna: Yeah, FML right?

VII: This next one's for me about having Ragna in Fates eventually. I don't have any plans for that as of right now, but I've yet to pick up those games. As for what side… I dunno, I could potentially see some BlazBlue and Guilty Gear characters becoming their own elite group… and now I've created another fan demand… great.

Ragna: Don't assume it right off the bat, you're doing how many stories right now?

VII: A few. The next question is for all of us from _Reborn Chance Maker_ and it's asking which 3 Death Battle we've enjoyed the most beside your-

Ragna and Sol: Don't bring ours up…

Ragna: Meh, I don't really care for that series at all… but if I had to pick one I'd say Guts vs Nightmare, I'd have to say that's one of their more understood ones.

Sol: I'd have to say Wolverine vs Raiden, it was one sided sure, but it was at least fun to watch.

VII: I'd appreciate if we didn't keep getting Death Battle question, I really don't care much for ScrewAttack, but I guess I enjoyed Snake vs Fisher. It was interesting and well played. Next question is for Ragna.

 **Shadowedge27** **: Good chapter. I've got a few questions but I'll just ask one: To Ragna, what do you think Mori meant when he said that your journey is coming to an end?**

Ragna: *Sighs* Let's face it, I might've given an awesome speech at the end of act 3, but we all know chances are pretty good I won't make it. And if I do? I'll just be swept under the rug while they go to new characters.

Sol: And if the light novel's ending becomes cannon? Well let's just say the shippers might riot and leave it at that.

VII: Let's just see if we can breeze through these. _Donkiki07_ asks:

 **My next question is this: In what kind of worlds can you see yourself working better?. Along with the crossovers of Storm I have only read a few ones who have a good idea about the history and the grim reaper like the main character, not mentioning that are worlds that he can fit almost immediately because of his power and abilities.**

Ragna: Strange as it might sound I'd actually love to go to Berserker's Midland. I dunno, the prospect of teaming up with Guts has always sounded pretty awesome and I figure together we could kick some major ass.

Sol: There have been people asking you for a DMC crossover though.

VII: ...I'll think about it. Kaizero leaves a couple of other worlds you can go to, but asks if you can dual wield blood-scythe.

Ranga: Never really tried… but I guess I'd have to find another one first.

Storm: And the last question is from _dmclover99_ :

 **yo ragna or sol if you were in the rwby universe would you consider being teachers at beacon or just be students. (what characters would you relate to or date)**

Ragna: I don't really see myself the teaching type, and if Storm let me keep my age it'd be weird of me to stay a student… I dunno, I feel like I'd be one of those side characters.

Sol: Same here, and as for dating… no, no one.

Ragna: And you give me gruff when I say you won't date.

Sol: What about you and Ruby? Or Ying?

Ragna (deadpans): Please don't say that out loud, I don't want Lichi to-

Litchi (from outside): A NEW BLOG IDEA!

Ragna: See what you did!? *Gets up and runs out the door* Hey stop! Don't you dare post that-! Good god! Don't make images for it!

VII: ...Did you do that on purpose?

Sol: No… should I help him?

VII: What could you do that would stop Litchi?

Sol: Point taken, this gonna cause an uproar.

VII: Not much we can do from here… well, here are the other reviews.

Eurigos: Hopefully you and the other readers will still follow me after this chapter's fight.

BeingofGrey: Why thank you, and thanks for the support.

EternalCobra34: Senpai has noticed you child.. Senpai has noticed.

Adv: short, but thanks for the review.

RevolverVincentRaikov: 'Fraid I wouldn't know since I don't really read them. Are they making the BlazBlue characters seem laughable compared to their Guilty Gear counterparts, because I feel that's what certain fans have said.

Shirosaki Kizuro: It's kind of hard to get into, just try you best.

 **Until next time! Ciao!**


	7. A River of Blood

_**Duel VI: A River of Blood**_

It was well past midnight and the knights in the _Holy Order_ that weren't on guard duty had fallen asleep long ago. By sunrise the next morning they'd be heading out to a battle that would prove critical towards ending the crusades; the destruction of the _Gear Factory_. The factory was sure to have a full legion of _Gears_ loading it and it was possible that the command gear, Justice, would make its appearance then. Everyone wanted to be ready and rested should that happen, but their local Reaper figured he could get a bit more practice in.

Using the time he had to his advantage, Ragna was committed to his late night training by tempering his usual (if unorthodox) fighting style. The simpler attacks weren't his concern, it was the moves that used his _Azure Grimoire_. His body might've been forced to adapt to the use of this world's magic, but he knew he still had room to improve and that was something he would need in the coming days of the _Crusades_. If his magic had shorted out during his fight against the massive _Gear_ force or (god forbid) his duel with Sol, Ragna wouldn't have made it away alive.

Ragna swung his massive sword downwards, just stopping behind it's edge hit the rainwater from yesterday's storm. The puddle separated under the blade shear force, but Ragna immediately swiped his sword to the right for a much quicker cut, before channeling his _Azure Grimoire_ into the blade and performing a spinning slash of darkness. When he was just about done with the attack, he forced _BloodScythe_ to go into its titular form performed a single slash parallel to the ground. Black wisps were emitted from the blade and the force of the attack was enough to send the rain water flying.

"Give it a rest already," came Sol's gruff voice from behind as the fellow _Holy Order_ member and Ragna's newly assigned partner made his way forward with his own blade, _Junkyard Dog_ , resting on his shoulder as he held the grip in his left hand. Sol's face didn't seem any more annoyed than usual, but it definitely didn't look like he was happy.

"What brings you out here?" Ragna asked, leaving his weapon in scythe form and letting it rest against his shoulder.

"The boy scout wanted an explanation for why you weren't in the camp; I'm the bastard he decided to chew out," the _Gear Hunter_ told him, though it was evident that Sol didn't really seem to care about getting in trouble.

"Boy scout?" Ragna questioned, unsure of who his partner was referring to.

"Ky, the blondie," he explained gruffly. "He wants you back in camp so he can keep an eye on you and we can be ready for tomorrow."

"You still haven't told me what the hell we're supposed to be doing, remember?" Ragna decided to remind him. "Kinda need to know the plan of attack."

"Best way I can put it is we're going to be holding the _Gears_ back while Ky's and Kilff's teams head into the factory and try to bring it down. Couple of scouts reported back saying that there's a much larger _Gear_ force heading this way, so it's going to be a problem if we don't keep them from reaching the factory."

"Any we're just waiting?" Ragna questioned. "If that _Gear_ force is closing in on us should we really be sitting around?"

"It's risky to wait for them to join up, it's suicide to go after them when it's dark… for most people," Sol told Ragna.

"...You hinting at something?" the Reaper asked.

"Yeah, if I didn't have to…" Sol trailed off and shook his head. "Just get back to the camp, we'll deal with the rest of that shit in the morning."

"You go on ahead, I'll head back once I finish up here," Ragna told him as he nonchalantly tossed his scythe into the air and then caught it with as single hand above his head.

' _...So this is what it feels like to be the one getting blown off,_ ' Sol thought as he headed back into the camp. ' _First time that's happened to me in a while._ '

Ragna continued to swipe the air around him with his weapon alternating between his own fists, his sword, and its scythe form. Ragna alternated by leading into some of his standard techniques, like _**Dead Spike**_ or _**Inferno Divider**_ **.** As far as he could tell there wasn't anything wrong with his fighting style, the magic was flowing through his body like he'd been using it his whole life… so why did he feel so uneasy?

 _ **-The Next Morning**_ **-**

Ragna was aroused from his slumber as the encampment noisily started gather supplies and readying themselves for the day's important battle. Grunting as he cracked his eye open, he saw that the sun hadn't even begun to rise yet, but it seemed like there wasn't any time to waste. He gave a groggy yawn as he rose from the rough ground that he'd been forced to sleep on.

' _Dammit I'm sore,'_ he thought to himself before he tried to get some sore cricks out of his back. A series of pops was heard by and the Reaper let out a short, satisfied breath. ' _Sleeping out in the woods would've beaten sleeping on solid concrete, at least then I might've been able to find a softer spot._ '

"Hey pard, so you're finally up," Tristan, the _Order's_ local cowboy enthusiast, said as he cleaned the chamber on his revolver. "Was wondering where you'd run off to last night, you missed a good poker game."

"I don't gamble," Ragna told him laxly as he continued his morning stretches. "Besides I don't have anything worth betting here."

"You've got that fancy sword don't ya?" the cowboy noted, gesturing to where _BloodScythe_ he been impaled in the ground.

"You'd have to kill me take that from me," its owner told him harshly. "And even then I doubt you'd be able to pry it away from my corpse."

"Heh, somehow I don't think you're bluffing there," Tristan said as he began putting his revolver back together. Still let's hope that we don't have to find out if that's true today, fighting off the _Gears_ with you and Sol backing us up already sounds difficult enough."

"So you're part of the outside force too then," the Reaper noted. "Who else is there to worry about?"

"Hey, we can handle ourselves better than you think," came Matt's voice as he approached the two with his twin handaxes strapped to his side. "I think our biggest issue today is keeping you from getting into another argument with Sol."

"Oi oi, we already settled it," Ragna told him as he finished his stretches. "Sides, he started it. So this factory battle, it's going to be a bigger fight than last time."

"Maybe not," Tristan admitted. "From what we've heard security at the factory's almost nonexistent. I guess they weren't planning on seeing an entire army wiped out when they went after the convoy. The real problems whatever traps they're going to be hiding inside the factory and if the new group shows up."

"If they do show up I'll wipe 'em out just like I did the last group," Ragna told the others before hearing footsteps heading towards them.

"Try to remind yourself that you don't have to do it alone," Julia said as she also approached the group with a stern expression behind her glasses. Her crimson hair was done back in its usual ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and her spear was strapped to her back as usual. "I'm going to be in command today, so at least TRY to listen to what I have to say."

"Don't expect any miracles," Ragna told her bluntly as he yanked as sword out of the concrete and put it back on his belt. "If the plan works I'll follow it until something better comes along, but I'm not really known to stand down."

"You and Sol both," Julia sighed. "We'll be heading out in a few minutes, so everyone make sure you've got your equipment, grab a quick bite, and be ready to go when Kliff gives the word."

"Don't worry Julia, we're set to move out on a moment's notice," Matt assured his sister. Once the female Lieutenant had left he turned to Ragna. "You know that she's counting on you."

"She's counting on everyone," the Reaper passively said back. "If I wasn't here you'd have Sol wouldn't you?"

"And you'd expect him to listen to Julia?" Matt asked rhetorically as Matt finished putting his revolver back together and gave the chamber a quick spin. "Just make sure you're there when she needs you. We've got her back but… what we're dealing with isn't human."

' _I'm not really that much of a human either_ ,' Ragna thought darkly as he glanced to his right arm. "I'll do my part, I can promise that much."

"That's all we're asking," Matt said before smirking. "And maybe a bit of music on the road."

"My vote goes to country," Tristan said, his fixation with cowboys ever present. "Been a while since I could listen to a good song."

"So long as it's not more _Queen_ …" the Reaper groaned, leading his companions to softly chuckle.

"You just don't have any taste in music," Sol muttered as he passed by the group with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

 _ **The Gear Factory**_

The forces around the _Gear Factory_ were handled easily, almost too easily. It would have looked like there was a trap, but with the _Order's_ scouts and elite units heading into the factory they'd be ready for whatever came their way. Ky and Kliff's group had headed inside close to fifteen minutes ago and Ragna was starting to get impatient.

"Come on, how's it taking them this long?" he gripped as he laid on flat slab of concrete with his hands behind his head.

"You don't have any idea how big this place actually is," Matt told him as he stood on lookout with his binoculars. The two had been positioned about a half mile from the factory to keep on lookout and send a message back once they'd gotten word. "I've been inside a _Gear Factory_ before and trust me, they're either huge on the outside or they've got over a dozen subterranean levels to make the gears. Planting the charges is going to take a while and that's without getting into whatever security the base has."

"So we're going to be here a while," Ragna groaned. "Any sign of the gear force?"

"Not from where I'm standing, but they might be trying to gather forces together and hit us with the biggest group they've got. I'm hoping that would slow 'em down, but without Kliff or Ky here if we see a combined force we might not make it."

' _Honestly I think Sol would pack enough of a punch for both of them,_ ' the Reaper admitted to himself as he thought back to his fight with the fire magic user the day prior. He winced as his arm gave a sudden throb. ' _Damn, what's this feeling? Something happening because of my magic? Somehow I'm getting a really bad vibe from it…_ ' "Hey, you're sure there isn't anything out there?"

"Who's the guy with the binoculars?" Matt retorted. "If you want to take a turn on look out go ahead and… Wait… I think I see movement over that rubble mountain! There's a force only five minutes away and it looks big! Damn! They've even got a massive _Gear_ too! Might even be a B-class!"

' _That big one must be what's setting this off,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he looked at his arm which continued to throb painfully. ' _Does it do this whenever there's a tough Gear nearby or something?_ '

"Julia!" Matt shouted into a magic circle emitting from his finger. "We've got the force coming in on this side! I don't think we've got the numbers to take 'em!"

"Head back here now!" she commanded over the spell. "We're going to need a plan to deal with them and I don't want you or Ragna doing anything reckless!"

' _She's knows what to expect from me anyways_ ,' Ragna thought to himself as Matt gestured for them to both back to the factories opening. If he'd had been considering walking back, that idea died the moment he saw Sol nonchalantly passing by to head out towards the oncoming _Gears_. Matt gave a nervous glance to the Immoral Flame before looking back to the darkly smirking Ragna. "Don't bother waiting up."

Helplessly watching as Ragna headed off to join his partner, Matt continued to stare at the retreating Reaper as he headed off to face a force far larger than the one he'd faced to save the convoy. Matt sighed to himself before running back to join his sister, far too preoccupied to notice the well dressed gentleman as he watched on a short distance away.

"This may take an interesting turn for the two off them," Slayer thought to himself aloud as he held an unlit pipe in his lips. "I almost lament not having a glass of fine wine to enjoy while I spectate their encounter."

It took only a short jog for Ragna to catch up with Sol and the Gear Hunter only seemed to to give him a sort of passive agressive look as he got close.

"No one asked you to follow me," Sol said him while still holding his cigarette from earlier between his lips, the tobacco reaching the end of its life span.

"Yeah? Well no one told me to stay behind either," Ragna responded him with his familiar snarky smile.

The Immoral Flame gave an exasperated chuckle before smirking back. "Fair enough."

 **(Cue** _ **Dynasty Warriors 8**_ _Cyclonized Typhoon_ **)**

As the two approached, smaller and more agile groups of the Gears broke away from the main force and ran around the two more seasoned warrior and headed for the factory's entrance. "Should we stop 'em?" the Reaper asked.

"Let's leave the leftovers to the others," Sol said as he spat out his cig and rolled one of his shoulders to get a few of the pops out. "We got bigger fish to fry and they should do _something_."

"Right, so how do ya' want to do this?" was Ragna's query as he unslung _BloodScythe_ and pointed it the forces in the front of him. "I take the left and you'll take the right?"

 _ **CLANG!**_

Ragna took a step back in surprise as Sol knocked his blade upwards using his own weapon. His golden eyes were dead serious as he addressed his partner. "Just keep slashing until we're done." With that blunt description Sol immediately took off running towards the _Gear_ army.

"My kind of plan." Ragna agreed snarkily before he also took off running towards the opposing army, but Sol made it their first. The giant Gear that was still causing Ragna's arm to throb was at the back of the group, so Sol started with the weaker ones.

" _ **Gun Blaze!**_ " he shouted as he dashed though the Gear's lines and caused columns of flames to shoot up from the ground behind him, sending several of the nearly countless _Gears_ flying. A soldier type gear attempted to rake its claws across Sol's back, but that attack was deflected harmlessly against his sword before Sol messily cleaved the monster into two half. A flying dragon type gear breathed a column of fire at him from above, but its heat was nothing compared to its targets. Send swiped his sword skyward and sent out his own massive wave of fire, consuming the opposing flames and incinerating the _Gear_ to ash.

As Ragna approached the group, he launched himself into the air and transformed his weapon into its scythe form. Letting it radiate dark energy, Ragna cleaved the blade through several _Gears_ and severed them in a gory splash of blood. He then spun his scythe and slaughtered even more of them. Another _Dragon_ type broke through the lines on foot and breath its own column of fire at Ragna. The Reaper allowed his weapon to revert back into sword mode before he leapt upwards to dodge the blast. Once he was above the monster, he plunged the blade down and struck through the creature's head killing it instantly.

One the other side of the battlefield the smaller _Gear_ units that had broken off from the main force were rapidly approaching the _Holy Order_ members. Tristan took careful aim with his revolver and let a single shot fly into the heads of one of the _Gears._ The wind magic inside the bullet was unleashed and tore the head to ribbons. The cowboy then switched cartridges and fired his next bullet which ricocheted between his target while damaging them. Twirling his gun as he switched to the third cartridge of his revolver. He braced his aim with his free arm, targeted a line of _Gears_ and fired off a powerful piercing shot that went through without resistance.

"There's a few down at least!" Julia shouted as Tristan continued to fire at the _Gears_ with the rest of the ranged attackers. "Everyone get ready!"

As the _Gears_ closed in their group, Matt was the first to rush forward to meet them with his duel hand axes. He swung a well aimed blow at a Soldier type _Gear's_ head and barely managed to break through its outer armor. Since the _Gear_ was still standing, Matt charged his fire based magic into his other axe and quickly decapitated the monster. Causing his other axe to glow with flames, Matt then made a slash with both of his weapon and sent out magic waves that cut through a few of the enemy. Matt then gave a shout before leaping into the air and bringing his weapons down and sending out a blast of fire that sent several _Gears_ flying back.

Despite her responsibilities of leading the troops Julia wasn't one to avoid the frontlines of combat herself. Julia practiced a rare and flexible type of light magic that had the potential to boost its users combat ability when channeled properly. Sending light magic into her spear, she stabbed her weapon forward and impaled it through three _Gears_ at once. A nearby opponent was about to claw a helpless, but Julia cast a quick incantation that sent a blinding ray of light out of her palm that incinerated the top half of the _Gear_. Ripping her spear out, she channeled more magic into it, result in an axe head of light appear near the top point. Using her makeshift halberd, Julia swung her weapon in a devastating arc and managed to decapitate several _Gears_.

Back on the front lines of the battlefield, Ragna was starting to get annoyed by how many _Gears_ he was having to fight through. He spun his body to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to the enemy to send them flying back before sending out a _**Dead Spike**_ and obliterating another group. A dragon flying overhead dive bombed towards the Reaper to flatten him, but he'd been ready. " _ **Inferno Divider!**_ " Ragna's oversized sword plunged into the _Gear's_ thick hide and cleaved it in half without resistance. With both halves still in midair, he performed an axe kick and sent them falling to the ground, crushing several smaller _Gears_ beneath the creature's large bulk.

After taking a moment to charge his fire magic, Sol fired off a _**Blockhead Burst**_ which resulted in a series of explosions that wiped out a large line of the monsters. The hunter then braced his body and allowed himself to contain some of the leftover spell energy. He then rushed forward with a fire encased fist and destroyed one of the gears with a well aimed punch. He then brought his sword down and cut another gear before swinging it upward and sending out a burst of flames.

Many of the remaining _Gears_ finally got the message that the two were the stronger targets, leading them to break off from the main group and headed toward the _Order's_ forces near the factory entrance. That left Ragna and Sol with the largest of the gears. The monster got around on four large legs and had a huge bulky body, about thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide. It had long and sharp tusks and a lengthy snout, like a mammoth, but its body was also completely covered in a black exoskeleton and spikes. The creatures let out a harsh screem as it's long snout exhaled a white mist over the ground it. When the mist clear the entire ground was frozen and there were sharp formations of ice formed all over the ground.

"This thing's already a pain in the ass," Ragna grunted as his arm continued to throb painfully. "Let's just kill it and be done here."

"My thoughts exactly," Sol agreed with due bluntness as he rushed forward.

Ragna sent out another _**Dead Spike**_ to create and opening in the ice wall for his partner to pass through so Sol wouldn't be slowed. When the older fighter made his way through the broken barrier the giant _Mammoth_ type _Gear_ swung its head to the side in an attempt to knock Sol over with its large and ice spike covered tusks. Badguy dodged the attacks by sliding on the ice ground until he came close enough to the monster.

" _ **Storm Viper!**_ " Sol shouted as he brought a flaming knee skyward and flipped his in a midair kick, leaving a trail of flames behind him. The attack only seemed to glaze against the creature's tough exterior, but Sol thrust his leg downwards for a final kick to little effect. ' _Dammit, this thing's got a tougher hide than I would've thought._ '

Ragna leapt up behind Sol with his weapon transformed into its scythe form and emitting its dark energy. He let out roar and he brought the weapon down on the same part that Sol had struck, barely managing to make crack marks appear on the creature's skin.

"No good!" Ragna shouted as the mammoth swung its head and knocked the two out of the air with its spiked tusked. Ragna winced as the icicles easily pierced his cloak and skin and dove deep into flesh, hitting several of vital organs. Had it not been for his above human endurance and his impressive healing factor he might've died there. He groaned as he landed before give off a burst of power from his _BlazBlue_ , causing the ice impaled in him to shatter. "Sol! You alright?"

"I'm fine," Sol grumbled. Like Ragna he'd also been pieced, but because of the intense amount of fire magic he'd had he wasn't pierced as badly though it was taking him longer to heal. "That spot's still vulnerable! HIT IT!"

"On it! Follow me!" Ragna shouted back as he rushed forward toward the monster with his sword raised above his head. The mammoth exhaled a powerful blast of icy mist from its mouth, but it wasn't enough to slow Ragna as he burst through the cloud. " _ **CARNAGE-!**_ " Ragna's initial sword slash was finally enough to break through the mammoth's thick hide, revealing more vulnerable flesh beneath. " _ **SCISSORS!**_ " The blast of darkness that followed was directed straight into the open wound, causing the _Gear_ to rell back and scream. "SOL!"

Time slowed as the Gear Hunter's shadow fell over Ragna. Sol had leapt above him and both of his fists were already emitting searing heat and destructive flames. Sol had a smug grin on his face, far cockier than Ragna had seen before. Sol roared before plunging his flame covered fists into the open wound, also managing to force the leftover dark energy from Ragna's attack in as well. The two magic collided and created a massive explosion inside the creature. The mammoth shuddered for a split second, before falling to the side with a dull thud.

 **(** _ **End Theme**_ **)**

"You got him?" Ragna asked as he equipped his sword to his belt, acting rather nonchalant despite what had transpired.

"All that's left of it is the outer skin; that combined magic didn't leave anything inside," the elder warrior told Ragna bluntly. "Still, your magic's scary enough on its own, but mixed with mine-" Sol was cut off as Ragna grimaced and gripped his right arm in pain. "You okay? Hey! Snap out of it!"

' _Damn it! What is this!?_ ' the Reaper thought through a blured mind as the _BlazBlue_ continued to throb. ' _This should've come from a powerful Gear and it's not even fading!_ ' A small rumble was heard behind the rubble mountain, causing both to narrow their eyes. ' _Now what!?_ '

Slowly taking large and lumbering steps out of the pile came two more of the giant _Gear_ the two had just fought. Their large gaze first looking at the their fallen kin, before looking at the two _Holy Order_ warriors that had downed it and roaring in rage.

"More of the same shit," Sol muttered as he braced _Junkyard Dog_ in his left hand. He was about to charge off and face the two before he noticed Ragna still gripping his arm. "Get that thing under control! We're in a warzone for god's sake!"

' _They…_ ' Ragna thought darkly before glancing back up to the _Mammoth's_ while still wincing. ' _They aren't causing this…_ '

Back near the entrance to the _Gear Factory,_ the rest of Julia's unit was busy holding off the remnants of the more minor opponents. Tristan fired off an exploding round into the force and blew a large chunk of it away. Julia charged more light magic into her spear and increased its length with a shining point made entirely of light and stabbed it through the line of monsters. Matt swung his twin axes with ferocity and cut through more of the _Soldier_ type _Gears_ , managed to cleave many of them in half. When he saw that he was being overwhelmed he brought his burning axes together and cast a powerful incantation, sending out a large wave of fire and turning his targets to ash.

"That's just about the last of them," Tristan said with relief as he fired another exploding bullet into a group of _Gears_. "Let's wrap this up so we've got some good news for Commander Kliff."

"Agreed," Julia said as she managed to cut down another _Gear_ with her lance. "Everyone forward! Let's finish this!"

The members of the Holy Order gave an energetic shout as they attacked the _Gear_ force with renewed energy. Blood continued to flow on the rain soaked ground and bodies fell. The battle looked like it was about to end there, before ever _Gear_ suddenly leapt back from the conflict, about 15 feet away.

"What the-!?" Matt said as the _Gears_ continued to mind their distance. They didn't move forward to attack the members of the _Order_ , they only stood back and hissed at their enemies.

"What're they doin'?" Tristan asked as he quickly reloaded his revolver, but had yet to fire off another shot. "They're not retreating."

"I don't know and I don't like it," Julia said darkly. "Everyone form up! Let's not let them overwhelm us with whatever they've got planned."

The members of the _Holy Order_ complied and kept their weapons raised as they tried to keep an eye out for whatever the _Gears_ were planning. As far as they could tell there wasn't any sign of another weapon coming in from the sky or anywhere else, so what was happening was just plain unnerving.

 _ **SCREEEEEEEEEEEE**_

A sudden painful sound of metal scraping against concrete was heard by all of the members, but none of them were able to tell where the sound was coming from. The members of the _Order_ glanced around nervously as the _Gears_ only seemed to become more excited in their hissing. Then suddenly, the painful sound stopped.

Matt said nothing as he continued to glance around, sweat beading on his forehead from all of the anxiety he was feeling. Then he noticed a flash of black shadow as it seemed to come seemingly out of nowhere and sped towards his sister.

"JULIA!" Matt shouted. The redhead barely had time to notice the black blur heading toward her with a smug smirk of malice upon its face. She didn't have any time to react as it raised a crimson red scythe and brought it down. The moment before it cut into her flesh, she felt Matt rush into her and shove her out of the weapon's path. He tried to raised his axes to block the move, but scythe was not stopped and cleaved through the blades, right before carving into Matt in a gory burst.

"M-Matt…?" Julia could barely stutter as the two halves of her brother fell to the ground. He'd been messily cut across the waist and was lying in a growing pool of his own blood. Julia's spirit and mind were crumbling as she knelt down to see him up close. His eyes were glazed over and unfocused as his last breath painfully left his body. " _ **MATT!**_ "

 **(Cue Guilty Gear X2** _ **Bloodstained Lineage**_ **Extended)**

"So he sacrificed himself for a woman as his last act… How _pointless_." The speaker of that sentence and the scythe's owner said with boredom as he pushed a few strands of dark hair out of his eyes. He was a tall man of a very slim build. He was wearing two pieces of black leather that didn't cover much of his body and was reasonably well toned beneath. His long dark hair and handsome face might've made him appear to be a charmer, but that idea was gone the moment you looked into his cruel yellow eyes.

"You… YOU BASTARD!" Tristan shouted before raising his revolver and firing off a powerful piercing shot. The mysterious murderer gave a smug smile before he laxly swung his scythe and managed to deflect the powerful shot and sent it through three other _Holy Order_ members. "What the-!?"

"Idiotic humans," the enigma insulted again. Members of the _Holy Order_ gave a battle cry as they charged towards him with weapons drawn. The dark haired man twirled his scythe met the unit's charge with his own attack. His scythe was reading blood from the members and laying waste to their ranks with the smallest of efforts. The men screamed as their mysterious enemy cut them down in the bath of crimson. He'd just finished with them before he heard another gunshot sound. He leapt the instant before the ground he'd been standing on was consumed by an explosion.

"HE'S IN THE AIR! GET HIM!" Tristan shouted. Members of the _Holy Order_ channeled magic and created runic circles appeared in front of them. The cowboy raised his gun in attempt to fire an early shot at the scythe wielder. All he saw was his target give another cruel smile before extending his arm and instantly creating a giant blood red circle in front of him. "GET DOWN!"

The circle unleash a demonic spray of red upon the knights. Tristans was the quickest to react and managed to dodge most of the blast, but his right arm was caught on the edge of the blast. He gritted his teeth as the sheer force of the attack tore his arm to shreds. As the cowboy struggled to remain standing he heard the raspy screams of the members that were caught in the main attack. Now only had the attack horribly torn their flesh, but their sickening skin showed that the attack had poisoned them.

"You lesser beings truly are pathetic," the scythe wielder said as he landed back on the ground without difficulty. He shook his head in complete contempt as he noticed the woman from earlier slowly rising to her feet with shaky hands barely managing to keep a hold on her weapon. "You face Testament, yet you want to die on your feet… If you weren't a human I might've been able to respect that."

Julia screamed as she lunged forward with intent of ramming her spear into the man's heart. Testament only gave a simple swing of his scythe and batted the attack way. With her spear out of his face, the darkened warrior sent his second attack for her neck, but Julia managed to create a blade of light about the size of a short sword to defend her. The moment the scythe touched the light, it shattered and unleashed a massive explosion. While Julia went flying back and lost her glasses in the process. Testament managed to dig his feet into the ground and keep from following suit. He created another blood colored magic circle in front of him and unleashed another torrent of red.

Julia barely managed to dive the pointed end of her spear into the ground and swung her body to dodge the attack. Right as she landed, Testament swiped his free arm and sent out a magic skull. The spearwoman didn't have her footing regained to where she could easily dodge the attack, so she hastily swiped her spear and managed to break the skull. Using his division to full effect, Testament dashed forward and brought his scythe above his head to carve Julia like he had her brother. Julia barely managed to see the attack coming and hastily brought her spear up.

 _ **SHING!**_

Still gripping his shredded and poisoned arm, Tristan watched with dread filled eyes as Testament finished slash with a cruel smirk plastered on his face. Julia's spear was cut cleanly in half, but it was the the sudden splash of blood that made him grit his teeth. While the move wasn't fatal, Julia had been delivered a long cut across her stomach. Due to her time in battle she managed to stay conscious, but she struggled to stay standing as she stumbled back and gripped the wound.

"Farewell fool," Testament taunted as he readied his scythe for the final blow. Poised to strike, the _Gear_ ally paused as he felt the sudden rush of wind come from behind him. Leaping at the last instant, the dark haired warrior barely managed to dodge the giant blade that swung at where he'd been standing. ' _Close, but it will take more than that to_ -' Testament's cocky train of thought was broken as a fist covered in darkness sailed through the air and delivered a shattering blow to his jaw and sent him flying.

 **(End Theme)**

"So he's the guy that's screwing with arm," Ragna said darkly as he looked around him at the bodies of fallen knights. "And that asshole's got a lot more to answer for."

"R-Ragna," Julia said with pain from behind him as she struggled to keep standing.

"Grab Tristan and find somewhere to take cover, I'll take this pale faced freak down." His tone wasn't angry, if anything Julia was afraid of just how emotionless it actually sounded.

"...Okay," the Lieutenant of the _Holy Knights_ said as she made her way over to the injured cowboy. "Wait, where's Sol?"

"Oh, he's managing without me, probably," the Grim Reaper told her with a smirk.

On the other end of the battlefield Sol was scowling by his lonesome as the two foreboding Mammoth type _Gears_ lumbered towards him. Nonchalantly readjusting his headband, the warrior glared at the giant monsters he'd been left with.

"Yeah, go on and play the hero while I stay here and take care of them; that's fair," Sol muttered to himself as he poured enough fire magic into _JunkyardDog_ to have its entire blade glow a powerful crimson while emitting flames. "Makes me wonder if Kliff put us together 'cause he's holding a grudge for something."

Finally close enough to their target to attack, one of the _Mammoth's_ reeled its headed back before swinging at Sol with enough force to sweep dust from the ground. Sol braced himself until the icicle tusk was right on top of him. He then swung his flaming weapon with devastating speed and accuracy and cleaved off the _Gear's_ tusk in one fell swipe. The monster blew a high pitched squeal out of its trunk as it barely managed to avoid toppling over. It's tusk was already starting to grow back, but it's glare to Sol was menacing… anyone else would think.

"I'm through screwing around," Sol shouted as wisps of flames started to wisp around his cloak while he recharged his magic. Once is was charged enough, he left out a roar and his entire body was shrouded in crimson fire. " _ **I'LL BURN YOU TO ASHES!**_ "

 **(Cue Killer is Dead's** _ **Chosen By the Moon**_ **)**

Back on the other side of the battlefield Testament made his way to his feet and glared at the man that had struck him down. The albino in question only seemed to stare back and the tension was thick enough to cut. The mysterious black cloaked man glanced to Julia trying to carry Tristan off the battlefield to a safer spot offering more cover. The cowboy looked like he'd outlasted the poison, but his arm was unsavable even with healing magic.

Testament put his hand up to the _Gear's_ on the sidelines, telling them this was still his fight, but one of them got a bit too bloodthirsty watching to two injured humans struggle away. He leapt away from the others and barreled towards its victims with saliva leaked from between its jaws. Four more of the gears joined in and followed it in the rush. They hadn't even made it halfway before they noticed their last sight, a demonic beast head soaring towards them.

With Ragna having just sent out a _**Dead Spike**_ , Testament used that small opening to fire off a skull before following up to strike him with his scythe. Ragna managed to catch the skull with a well placed swing before hastily bringing the weapon back to block the enemy's scythe and entering a blade lock.

"You're strong for a human!" Testament yelled in his face with a sneer. "But you're no match for me!" Ragna didn't even have time to give off quick insult before Testament dashed backwards and left him stumbling forward. Testament threw himself into the air and cut deep into the Reaper's shoulder as he passed over him, sending out a spray of blood. He thought he'd managed to escape, but Ragna caught the scythe's blade with his own sword and pulled Testament back into range. "What!?"

" _ **DARKNESS CONSUME YOU!**_ " Ragna's _Azure Grimoire_ became a massive claw of darkness. Digging it into Testament's flest and hoisting him into the air, tendrils of darkness surged from the ground and struck him countless times for before its user finally crushed the claw and sent his opponent flying.

"RGGH!" Testament grunted as he barely managed to land on his feet. He was bleeding all over his body and it didn't look like Ragna was going to give him any respite. The two blades clashed again, creating more sparks between the two. After another powerful clash, Ragna took a step back in retreat to allow his sword to transform into a scythe. "You as well!?"

Ragna didn't respond, he only slashed at Testament while his weapon radiated pure darkened energy. Ruble went flying with every slash the two made contact with and the _Gear_ felt himself getting forced back with every swing as Ragna advanced on him. Gritting his teeth Testament, dodged one of the scythe slashes and leapt back to create and blood colored circle. As the torrent was unleashed Ragna spun and summoned a wave of dark energy through his scythe. The two magics collided and the reaction caused a massive explosion that tore the ground between the two asunder.

' _Damn it! Who is he!?'_ Testament thought as he continued to bleed. He was still injured from the massive blow that Ragna had already given him, but his healing factor still allowed him to fight. ' _Justice told me that the only member worth avoiding specifically was the Immoral Flame, but this person's fighting on the same level as he is! Where did the Order find such a member!?_ ' A series of explosions sounded off from inside the Gear factory with enough force to shake the ground. Testament grit his teeth at the set of failures before beginning to flee.

"Hold it!" Ragna shouted as he began running after his retreating opponent. He didn't get far before the other _Gears_ decided to jump in. They started going after both him and the hiding Tristan and Julia. "Tch! Pansy." Ragna unleashed a scythe slash and wiped out three of them. "That guy… next time I see him I'm wreaking that cocky face of his!"

 **Back to Sol (** _ **End Theme**_ **)**

Sol plunged the superheated _JunkyardDog_ into the _Mammoth Gear's_ side. The weapon's heat allowed it to bypass the _Gear's_ previously indestructible exterior and hit the _Gear's_ flesh inside. The _Mammoth_ tried to shake him off, but the _Gear Hunter_ instead leapt off on his own volition. He dodged the ice spikes that were fired off by the second _Gear_ and circled around to the front off the one he'd just stabbed. The Gear tried to crush him by swinging its long truck, but he managed to guard against the attack before leaping up into the air.

Sol's again coated his sword in intense flames as he stabbed it into the creature's left eye. If it wasn't for the intense heat he was giving off he might've been soaked with the creatures blood. As it stood the liquid managed to evaporate before touching him. Struggling to stay in place as the creature fought to shake him off, Sol fired blast after blast into the cut he'd made hoping to fry the creature's brain. Eventually the monster's movement began to slow and it stopped struggling as hard. Sol fired a final blast for good measure before finally leaping away.

"Hah… hah… Damn 'em…" Sol panted ominously. "Leave it to that guy to make these things a total pain in my ass." Sol was low on energy, but he could still keep fighting. Bracing himself as the other _Gear_ made it way forward he started to again charge his magic. "All right… Let's see if I can find a weak point in this thing."

He rushed forward just as the Gear had begun to inhale for a freezing breath attack. Sol reeled his body back for a powerful punch to the center of the creature's head, but before he could even begin to through a punch, reality seemed to warp in front of him and suddenly there was a man standing in his way. Sol grit his teeth before leaping back as the man blasted the massive _Gear_ into the air with a single punch of his own.

" _Crusading till death  
Melancholy of flame's guilt  
A dance without end._"

Sol grit his teeth as Slayer turned to face him and took his pipe out of his mouth with a smug grin as his target disappeared from view. The ponytailed _Order_ member looked like he had a few choice words for the vampire, but instead simply threw his sword to the ground where it impaled itself from the force.

"Apologies, were you quite looking forward to that?" Slayer asked with a chuckle. "From where I was watching it didn't look like you particularly enjoyed being left behind."

"If you knew that then why not step in 'til now? You seemed to have plenty of chances from you little box seats," Sol muttered as he fished out another cigarette to smoke. ' _Damn, only got one left after this…_ '

"Being truly dandy is in timing and presentation, there's no use rushing these things," Slayer said, with his usual _code of dandy_ excuse (at least in Sol's eyes it was an excuse). "But I thought I was rather clear when I said that extermination of the _Gears_ was your job and not mine… and you seemed rather adamant about playing the _Genocider_."

"I'm just cleaning up the mess I helped make in the first place," Sol said before lighting the cig. "And I don't appreciate being spied on when I'm doing it."

"Do you really mean that? I always thought you loved having an audience," Slayer playfully said trying to get a rile out of Sol. He saw that he was about to succeed so he decided to have some fun and pointed his index finger at Sol. "Your next line is _Stay out of my damned business old man!_ "

"Stay out of my damned business old man!" Sol shouted before grunting as he realized he'd been played… he'd been played hard. "...I want you out of my face… NOW."

"If you insist, but I very much look forward to the next act, especially now that we have another actor on the stage," Slayer said before he disappeared from sight once more.

" _Yare yare_ ," Sol grunted as he began to smoke. It was a few moment later until Ragna finally approached came back for him. "Have fun leaving me behind?"

"Well…" Ragna thought back to seeing Kliff and Ky's groups exiting the Gear factory and how Julia had finally lost it now that the fight was over. He also thought about all the bodies he'd seen on the ground when he'd gotten there. "...No, I didn't."

"...It's part of war kid," Sol told him like it was obvious. Ragna glared at the older warrior and the nickname he'd called him. "But if you know that much, don't beat yourself over it. We still got a lot of shit to get through."

"I know that much," the Reaper told him with a groan as he looked around the battlefield. "Wait, where's the last giant _Gear_? I only see two here, what happened to the third one"

Sol was silent as tried to come up with a way to explain to Ragna that the two of them likely wouldn't be seeing that particular _Gear_ ever again. He was about to utter a simple and off handed remark to his partner. But that was before a massive crash was heard close to the two. Both jumped back in surprise and braced their weapons as a powerful cloud of dust washed over them.

' _Don't tell me…_ ' Sol thought to himself as the dust started to clear. Just as he'd thought, it was the giant _Gear_ that the vampire had launched just a few moment prior. The entire thing was… broken, that was really the only way you could put it. Slowly creaking his head over towards Ragna, he noticed his partner looking at him with an eyebrow raised in expectancy.

"...That… was what happened to the other _Gear_ …"

 _ **Author's Note: Don't own Anything Here.**_

 **VII (Gripping his head in agony): Damn it, lately I've been a head cold magnet.**

 **Sol: Sure, use that as an excuse and not you writer's block.**

 **VII (pointing angrily): My writer's block is because of this damn head cold!**

 **Ragna: Sounds like you've still got energy to me.**

 **VII: Enough to get angry… Okay, let's get these reviews out and be done with it.**

 **Sol: That's why we're here.**

 **VII: Oh, and as a small side note there were a couple of comments that were actually addressed in Revelator. As not to confuse anyone, we'll have to skip those.**

Question: Sol, are you still holding a grudge against That Man, or have you two finally buried the hatchet?

 **Sol (Expression darkens and grits his teeth): What do you think?**

 **Ragna: I doubt Sol's ever gonna let this go… fact I'd kind of be worried if he did. He's not really the type to let go of an old grudge.**

 **VII: Pot calling the kettle black on that one Ragna. Anyways, let's move on to the next question.**

To Ragna and Sol: Since both of you are quite familiar with each other world, I would like to know, who do you think is the biggest asshole of each world?

 **Ragna: Guess I'd have to go with the obvious pick and say I-No. She reminds me a lot about Terumi and she's done some pretty freaky shit over the years, so I'll stick with her.**

 **Sol: Most people are expecting me to say Terumi, and I can get why. He's a being that lives off of making people hate him and I do think he's a pretty big ass… but personally, I'd have to go with Relius Clover. The guy turns his own wife and daughter into puppets and continues to torture people for data on souls… he strike me a bit too close to home.**

I don't know if this has been asked before, but I have a question for Ragna. Due to Ky's excellent performance during the Crusades, the Post-War Administration Bureau made the effort of copying him through the creation of the Robo-Kys: which, as it turned out, did not emulate Ky in any way aside from a few things in appearance. If the PWAB were to do the same with Ragna, how could he envision the Robo-Ragna as? Bonus points if Sol can say a few things about Robo-R.

 **Ragna: A robot version of me? ...Oh god, Kokonoe tried to do something like that and I STILL have nightmares of it! I don't want to think of what those freaks at the Bureau would do with me!**

 **Sol: I remember seeing that thing, didn't it try to do steal something from Bullet? ...Well, as far as the thing's abilities would go, I'm not expecting much. Despite the difficulty of learning lightning magi, it's pretty well known and it's not hard to get military grade info on it. Ragna's BlazBlue on the other… hand came from a different world. It's one code I doubt those egg heads are going to crack.**

Ragan and Sol, Do you know the lanterns in DC universe if so what Rings do you want to have or would fit you in your opinion? Just curious that's all.

 **Ragna: Rings eh? What do they mean?**

 **VII: Well I'm not going to go over the complete spectrum, but I did manage to grab a few in preparation for this.**

 **Ragna (sweating): Is that going to cause problems?**

 **Sol: It's DC, he could sneeze and they'd be on their way to catastrophe somehow. Anyways, let's see if I get a reaction.**

Sol holds his hand out over the rings awaiting a reaction. Eventually a crimson red ring floats and places itself on his finger. Sol's attire then… didn't really change.

 **Sol: Red, obviously. What's it supposed to mean though?**

 **VII: In blunt terms… Rage. It's means your main asset is your rage.**

 **Sol: ...Hammer it in why don't yah? Everyone from Raven to That Man's been telling me that shit, and now some damn rings doing the same thing.**

 **VII: Well you've got a pretty short fuse I've noticed. Anyways, Ragna's up.**

Like Sol, Ragna also put his hand above the collection of rings and waited for a response. He too was expecting a red ring to fly upwards consider his own temperament, but instead one of the green rings inserted itself on his finger. His familiar red jacket then changed color to an interesting jade green hue and he gained a green mask.

 **Ragna: I got the original Green… Damn, it's not my colour.**

 **VII (looking at his charts): Willpower then… I guess it fits given what happened in** _ **Fiction**_ **, but honestly I was expecting you to get a red ring yourself, or maybe black ring to signify your connections with death.**

 **Ragna: ...I'll take Green and avoid the whole 'death' thing.**

 **VII: Okay then, last question.**

Sol, be honest, does Venom have any of the following:

A: A plushie resembling Zato

B: A picture of Zato sleeping

C: A shine to Zato

D: Pretty much everything that relates to Zato (in other words, all of the above)

 **Sol (light heartedly chuckling): Two for three kid, but I ain't telling you what they are. Now you want someone clingy with really weird shit in their room, head into Jin's. I guarantee it'll make an impression.**

 **Ragna (deadpanning): I suggest the opposite entirely… Noel went in there without Jin knowing once and it took her a few weeks to start talking to us again. Even worse is the fact that she refuses to look me in the eye anymore.**

 **VII: Well that sucks… Good night everyone, have a great weekend!**


	8. Eight Years Later

_**Duel VII: Eight Years Later**_

 _April 5_ _th_ _,_ _2180_

With the events of the _Crusades_ having ended, effort and supplies had been invested into rebuilding the major cities around the world that had been lost in the massive _Gear_ onslaught. Not all of the world was focused on rebuilding their old way of life however, many rumors had circulated throughout the world of the building of a new nation; the Independent _Kingdom of Illyria_ as it would be called. Still, the effort it would take to build and organize an entire nation from the ground up was already a massive, and with no clear leaders progress would be slow.

Progress across the rest of the world wasn't that much better; almost all of the world had been attacked in the rise of the monstrous _Gears_ and would need to be largely rebuilt from the ground up. As of right now, only a select few settlements were actually considered completed and orderly enough to house the large masses that had been misplaced during the war... _Neo Las Vegas_ was not one such settlement.

Half of the _City of Sin_ remained as little more than large piles of ruble awaiting to be salvaged into any type of resources that could be found. The buildings that had been constructed after the war were massive, but they still paled in comparison to the bright and shining monoliths that had once decorated in only the largest and brightest neon lights. The diversity between the businesses was no longer as extravagant either. Now all buildings were either a casino, a strip club, or even a covertly placed brothel.

The city was left chaotic and practically lawless, making it the perfect place for criminals to gather. Despite how few resources most refugees had managed to gather after the war, they felt like trusting the desolate wastelands would be safer if the alternative was this hellhole... despite the handful of renegade Gear units that were still rumored to roam those desolate lands. Truly this was a lawless and godless land and left the police less than effective.

"You bastard! You've been giving me shit cards all night and I'm sick of it!" a large, intimidating, and muscled thug in biker leather shouted at the dealer before him. The muscled man had a pair of kings in his hand while the dealer had managed to make a two pair with sevens and jacks.

"Sir please," the mustached tuxedo wearing dealer said as he took the chips from across the table. "You're making the other customers uncomfortable." This wasn't an odd display for the city or this casino for that matter. The return rates on these tables were extremely low and any money or resources that you'd have gambled with would likely go to the casino's owner by the end of your visit... That and rumors of the casinos cheating you out of your money were spread frequently.

"Grr... I'm not takin' this shit anymore!" the man shouted as he slammed his fist down, breaking the table in half. Several patrons around the two back off at the sudden display as the larger man grabbed the dealer by his collar and hoisted the terrified man into the air. "GIVE ME BACK ALL THE MONEY YOU STOLE FROM ME!"

"S-SECURITY!" the terrified man called out. Several other rough looking men burst through the doors into the gambling parlor, each of them equipped with small metal batons and non-magical ballistic weapons. The intruder gave a growl as he threw the dealer off to the side where the poor man hit a wall. "GAH!"

"I'll come back for you later," the large man threatened before a magic seal appeared beneath his feet. Giving a feral roar, his body and muscles seemed to expand as his clothes to became stretched and the rips expanded. Many of the men fired off their guns at the giant, but he only smirked wickedly as the bullets seemed to bounce uselessly off of him. Roaring, the man rushed forward and clothes-lined several men to the floor and before backhanding several more into the wall. Grabbing one man by the leg, he proceeded to use him as a club to swing him around at the others and sending security personnel flying. The casino hired brutes then fled from the scene running for their lives. "COWARDS! GO ON AND RUN! I'LL TAKE MY TIME HERE!"

By now all of the patrons were covering behind the gambling tables in terror as the man laughed wickedly. Police reinforcements would take some time to arrive once they were called in, and even then there was no guarantee that they'd be able to apprehend this powerful outlaw. This man was going to take his time wrecking this place... at least it looked like he would have.

"Tch... Only a thousand on your head? Talk about a small fry."

The thug then turned to the source of the voice and saw a single man heading into the casino. In that eight years that had passed, Ragna didn't appear to have aged a day physically. His spiky hair was the same pale shade of white that it always was and his muscle tone had strangely remained the same. What had changed was his clothing; a new red coat that was only slightly longer than his previous one, a black hakama set of a shirt and pants, the same metal plated shoes, and a familiar collection belts which were also used to hoist his blade _BloodScythe_. The two major differences were the metal plate on the front part of one of his belts which now read _GRIM,_ and Ragna's darkened red and green mismatched eyes... eyes of a man who had seen things he wouldn't ever be able to forget.

"...Who the hell are you?" the giant thug demanded as Ragna continued to slowly walk forward. The massive thug then took noticed of Ragna's giant blade and scoffed. "The hell? You want to kill me with that piece of crap? It'd break after the first swing!"

"...Much as I'd like to carve you in half, your bounty says I've got to bring you in alive," Ragna told the man, not in the mood for playing games.

"Heh, and you really think that you can even touch me? You must've missed it; not even bullets leave a mark on me!" Ragna didn't appear to be impressed. "Rrr... I'LL BREAK YOUR SPINE!" Grabbing one of the large Poker tables, the thug threw the massive object at the Reaper with a wild swing from both of his arms. Unmoving from his spot, Ragna caught the table with a single hand and didn't even flinch at the massive blast of wind that followed from the sheer force of the attack that sent a flurry of cards and dice flying. He then set the object behind, placing it on the ground with a sound _Thud._

"WHY YOU-!" the man shouted, right before feel a massive punch right to his gut. Looking down, he saw that the newcomer had sucker punched him in the gut, moving so fast that he left an afterimage directly behind him. "Damn... you..." That single punch was all it took send the man to the ground; lights out.

It took quite some time for the authorities to arrive after that, big shocker. Putting the criminal in magic enhanced handcuffs and several other sealing based objects. They escorted the criminal off of the scene, giving Ragna his receipt for the bounty on the wanted man. The Reaper was about to head off, but then saw the recovering dealer slumped on the wall and made his way over.

"You alright?" he questioned at the downed man, offering a hand to help him up.

"Thanks to you, I guess I will be..." the man said as he took Ragna's hand and the Reaper helped him back to his feet. "If you hadn't shown up I would've been in-"

 _ **RIIIIIIIIIIIP!**_

"Trouble..."

In Ragna's 'attempt' to be helpful, he'd 'accidentally' ripped the dealers suit arm on his way up. With the cloth gone the dealer's arm was exposed, as was the automatic card dealer that had been hidden underneath. Now in plain sight for Ragna and the rest of the casino to see. The man felt his body go cold as Ragna simply looked at the cloth he'd ripped off, not even giving a single glance at the cheater's tool.

"Whoops," he muttered as he started walking off leaving the dealer and the rest of the casino to deal with the outraged customers. "My bad."

As Ragna the Bloodedge made his way out of tension filled establishment, a small blue magic sigil appeared before him, indicating that he was receiving a call from a long distance away. He growled in annoyance as he recognized the specified signal of the sender. He saw that the streets he were walking were mostly empty so the guided the sigil up to his ear and spoke into it.

"I've told you a thousand times; I don't know where the hell he is," Ragna told the person on the other end of the line with (he thought) due bluntness.

"Do you always assume that's why I'm calling?" asked the voice on the other end of the line.

"Considering the bone you've been trying to pick with him, you can't prove otherwise," Ragna muttered. "Give it a rest already, you're never going to find him unless he wants you to."

"And whose fault is that? You were the one that let him go without a fight," came Ky Kiske's annoyed voice on the other end of the line.

"So did Kliff, but I don't see you complaining to the old man," the Reaper rebutted as he continued walking down the road. "This is a waste of time, quit calling me if you're just going to accuse me of something that happened years ago. I don't know why you have to keep bringing it up."

"Because you don't realize what you've done! By letting Sol go, you've-!"

"I'm not the one who still has the _Fireseal,_ and Sol can put that thing to better use than anyone else... or are you forgetting what _really_ happened leading up to that?" Ragna's tone was dripping with venom, despite how vague he was with the meaning of the words. Ky didn't say anything in retaliation. "...Quit calling me."

"Wait, Rag-!" Ky's words were cut short as the Reaper swiped his finger away from his ear ending the call early. The Reaper sighed as he continued walking through the desolate streets of the city.

"Tch, it's always got to be something with him, doesn't it?" Ragna thought to himself, remembering his time spent fighting through the Crusades. "Him and Sol both..."

 _Years Ago -The Crusades-_

"SEEEEEEYAAAAAAH!" a woman screamed as she plunged her spear forward, stabbing it deep into the hide of one of the large monstrous Gears. The Gear let out a shrill scream of pain before it fell to the ground, dead. Screaming once more, the weapon then swung her spear in an arc, cleaving through several of the artificial weapons. Using her magic, she then created an orb of light in her palm and created a massive blast of energy to weaken several Gear before rushing forward and finishing them off with additional slashes. Many Gears lay dead at her feet, but it wasn't enough; she charged forward to kill more.

"JULIA! GET BACK IN POSITION!" Ky Kiske called as he and his men were kept back by the bulk of additional Gear forces where they couldn't support her. "JULIA!"

Julia wasn't listening, she could only keep stabbing and swinging her weapon with bloodless. She'd already lost her brother and most of the unit under her to these monsters; she wouldn't rest until every single one of them was carved to pieces. Causing her weapon to glow with a piercing light, she kept thrusting it through the monsters mercilessly, felling one Gear after another. Julia was so caught up in her merciless slaughter, she didn't see the Gear leap out from behind her with jaws wide enough to snap her in half. It clearly would have, if not for the darkness coated fist that smashed the thing to a bloody pulp in one shot.

"Damn it! Keep your guard up!" Ragna shouted as her as he swung his sword and turned another force of Gears to bloody viscera. "Go back with the others you idiot!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Julia shouted as him as she only kept swinging at the Gears. Again Ragna had to slash a select few _Gears_ in her blind spot to keep the red-head alive.

"Tch, and he leave's me to pick up this mess," Sol Badguy growled to himself as he slung fire at the Gears in front of him, burning them to a crisp. "Karma is one hell of a bitch."

That battle didn't last for much longer and the teams didn't suffer an casualties, but there were far too many close calls to soldiers losing their heads or even something like losing a limb. Every soldier in the force was on edge after the massacre two weeks earlier caused by the mysterious Testament figure. If the Gears had such a powerful key player that could wipe out an entire force, then it would only be a matter of time before _Justice_ itself finished the job. As of right now, only five members of the Holy Order seemed strong enough to even stand a chance against Testament and one of them was in Australia... the Gear leader itself would be a different story.

"Feh, this is getting ridiculous," Sol thought to himself as he stood over a mountain of Gear corpses.

Reaching his fingers into one of his pockets, he reached for his regular cigarette stash only to discover that this was his last one. Knowing he should enjoy it, Sol brought it up to his mouth and lit the very tip with his fire magic. He was planning on making this final cig last as long as he could, maybe with some Queen to listen to while he smoked it, but he hadn't even started to taste it before a stray Gear burst out from beneath the corpses of its allies. Rushing towards Sol with razor sharp claws, the Gear Hunter was forced to lean back and avoid the initial slash before countering with his sword, running it through the creature's body.

"Tch, was that really-?" Sol tried to begin, right before his the cigarette fell to pieces. His LAST cigarette. "Son of a..."

The members of the Holy Order felt the tremor of the explosion back in their camp and they all saw the fiery column of flames that reached high into the air. Many of the Order watched on in concern... Ragna was unimpressed.

"Someone's pissed," he commented as he rested on his slab of ruble within the encampment, already used to this sort of behavior from Sol. Starring up at the smoke covered sky, he sighed as he slowly allowed himself to fall asleep until his patrol shift.

"Ragna." The Reaper groaned as he opened his eyes which landed on Ky Kiske. "I've got new orders for you."

"Now what?" he demanded as he didn't move from where he was resting. "I was about to get a nap in..."

"You can take your nap in a moment; I just wanted to let you know I'm assigning Julia to your team until further notice." Okay, the Reaper hadn't been expecting that one. In fact, the message that Julia would still be fighting at all after what had just happened was something of a surprise for him.

"Not sure if you've been paying attention, but that sure as hell wasn't the first fight she's been in since our run in with that _Testament_ freak. Not the first time she's gone so blood crazy either," Ragna reminded the blond. "Kliff wants her off the front lines, so isn't this a good excuse to send her to guard the refugee encampments?"

"We've considered ordering her to do so, but it's clear that we can't send her back and expect her to stay there, also... as you know she's in a precarious position right now," Ky told him, though it was clear that he was just as uncomfortable with the situation. "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but as right now she's safest with the two of you instead of finding a new unit for her to lead. Whatever chaos your fighting style includes, it seems to match with her current one well enough. I just want you to make sure she's safe." Before Ragna could protest, Ky walked off.

"Oh Sol's going to LOVE this," he thought to himself sarcastically. Not feeling too motivated, Ragna remained lying on his own designated slab of rubble. He continued to lay there until Sol passed him by. "Yo."

"Hmph." It was clear with his growling that the brown haired fire user wasn't in the best of moods, much like Ragna had thought earlier.

"What's your problem?"

"Lost my last cig," Sol told him, as if that explained his attitude. Ragna rolled his eyes before taking out the single cigarette that he'd gotten from Sol after they'd worked together the first time. Tossing it to his partner, Sol started at the small roll for a moment before smirking and lighting the tobacco. "Thanks."

"Not like I was going to use it anyways," he told Sol as he rolled his eyes. "FYI, Julia's on our team now. Ky's orders."

"...And just like that, you've lost me," Sol told him, causing Ragna told glare at him. "Ky went to you because he knew that I won't listen, so I _won't_ listen. This is your problem now." Ragna gave a groan as Sol walked off, getting a couple of cricks out of his neck as he went. "Try not to die out there."

"...Just my luck," Ragna groaned as he went back to resting.

 _The Present_

"Always had to push things on me, didn't they?" Ragna thought aloud. "But then..."

Whatever he'd been about to say was interrupted as another magic call from Ky appeared before him. Scowling at the blue sigil, Ragna answered it once more.

"Ky..."

"Just listen to what I have to say; this doesn't have to do with Sol... at least I don't think it does," the blond told him immediately, trying to make sure his contact didn't hang up like last time.

"It's _INTERPOL_ work then?" After the Crusades had finished and the Holy Order had dispersed, Ky had begun working for the International Police force as an investigator. Though the organization itself was understaffed, unorganized, and lack any significant funding; he'd apparently already started to make a name for himself in the short time he'd been there. Apparently Ky was more or less considered the poster boy of the entire organization.

" _INTERPOL_ is interested in this, but I'm referring to the recently announced Tournament," Ky told him.

"Tournament?" Ragna questioned. "The hell are you talking about?"

"You haven't heard? News of it has hit most of the cities and... Where are you exactly?" Ky's voice seemed rather suspicious towards Ragna's activities, just like old times.

"Vegas."

" _NEO_ Vegas?" the former Holy Order captain demanded, a sense of betrayal in his voice that Ragna would be in such a hive of scum and villainy.

"I've got to eat and there are plenty of marks and security contracts here for me," Ragna told him.

"Still working as a Bounty Hunter then..." Ky growled.

"I prefer _Mercenary_ , but what the hell are you talking about a Tournament? This is the first I've heard of it."

"It's... They call it the _Sacred Order Selection Tournament_. Apparently it's for the formation of the Second Holy Order, but everything about the presentation is off."

"A Second Holy Order? Who in the hell thought that was a good idea?" Ragna demanded. "Kliff split us up after the Crusades specifically because he didn't want us to turn into a world dominating military force." Ragna had gone along with that plan easily, not wanting to become anything like the Librarium he'd rebelled against in his home world.

"Which would imply that whoever is organizing this tournament is staging a Coup against the reforming governments... but it can't be that simple. Killing is permitted in this tournament and there are even some rumors that killing your opponents will net you more points to proceed than letting them live."

"So it's an organized blood sport? Wouldn't the Bureau be against this from day one?" The PWAB; the _Post War Administration Bureau._ While very few people knew the actual inner workings of this organization, it was apparent that they were starting to spread their influence and power over most of the remaining cities in the few years that had passed since the Crusades. Already Ragna was keeping them on his mind if they needed to be his next target.

"I... I haven't heard anything from them yet, no one I've talked to has," Ky admitted. "Almost as off putting is that criminals that are allowed in the tournament. Whoever is organizing this tournament has made it so the police force can't apprehend any criminals that are presently entered, no matter how intense their records are. There's even a rumor of a serial killing surgeon named _Dr. Baldhead_ being one of the front runners."

"They've got mass killers and low grade criminals participating in this thing? Funny, you'd think that they'd be right at home in Vegas then," Ragna muttered.

"I think they might have an event planned to be hosted there, but our current intelligence is saying that there won't be a round hosted for another week, possibly longer," Ky told him. "I'd rather that we didn't wait that long."

"So in short... We've got a publicly advertised blood sport that's claiming to be a selection process for the Second Holy Order. It can also act as a safe haven for criminals fleeing from whatever remains of the law enforcement so that they can get into the _Holy_ Order and stay out of law enforcement hands?" Ragna asked, trying to make sense of the whole situation. "What's the prize anyways?" Silence. "Oi! Ky!"

"...A wish."

"Wish?"

"Yes; the winner of the tournament is said to get a single wish granted, their secret and innermost desire," Ky explained to him. "I know how absurd that sounds, but the people entering the tournament are starting to believe that whoever is running it has developed a new form of magic to grant desires."

"This is just getting more and more obscene," Ragna grumbled to himself. "Well, at the very least I'll have a ton of marks gathered together in one place... Fine, you've got my attention. What do you want me to do?"

"There should be a spot somewhere near you to enter the tournament in the Americas. I'm still in the Paris at the moment, so I doubt we'll be seeing each other in the first few rounds." Ky was silent on the other line for a moment. "North-West then..."

" _Old Seattle?_ " It was the only city on the West Coast of the States that had managed to be even slightly rebuilt since the devastation in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland during the _Crusades_ had been... extensive.

"The very same," Ky informed. "Try to stay in touch."

"...Whatever," Ragna told him harshly before ending the transmission. "...One wish, eh?" The Reaper shook his head. "Get real Ragna, that's not what's going on here..."

 _ **Author's Note (and explanation for anyone still confused)**_

 _ **Whew, it's been too long since I've updated this fic... Alright then, so a quick recap for what I need to explain.**_

 _ **So while writing for the Crusades, I realized that I've managed to get the stage set even if I never managed to finish the War itself. Like I showed you in this chapter, I'll refer back to events of the Crusades that I hadn't covered. Think of this as a new angle of story telling for me to try out for the 'Missing Link' arc. This is a shorter chapter, but I needed to start somewhere after such a long Hiatus.**_

 _ **I realize that Guilty Gear has a lot of spin off material and I'll try to refer to what I can in passing reference (most of what I can dig up from Xrd's library at least). Obviously Overture isn't considered 'spin-off' material and I may try to do something with the cluster... fudge that was Guilty Gear: Judgment. No 'pachinko machine' arc though (yes, it's real. Look it up).**_

 _ **And past that I have one last... announcement. I'm cutting off the Ragna and Sol questions at the posting of this chapter so stop writing them in. Don't worry, I'll still clear up those already written here and in chapters to come, but this got way too out of hand for me. I know what I'd say that I'd do, but if I have to answer twenty questions every chapter then it'll take me that much longer to get my updates out.**_

VII: Hope they take the message well.

Ragna: One can only hope, it's been a while since I've been here.

Sol: It's been over a year that I've even been included, but what the hell?

VII: Let's just get into the questions for today. _KnightSpark_ asks... this is an odd place to start. It asks about you two being gender swapped.

Ragna: ...No comment, just... no comment.

Sol: None from me either... fans are weird, dude.

Ragna: No kidding.

VII: _Nexus Rider_ asks about character match ups between both series... sorry, but I don't feel comfortable covering that... so... apologies.

Ragna: You're treading on thin ice already, you know?

VII: No need to remind me. _Reborn Chance Maker_ asks for our opinions on a list on animes and it's a rather long list with some pieces of media that I truthfully haven't seen... we each pick one and answer it. Agreed?

Sol: ...I don't really watch anime... I mean I've watched DBZ, but mostly I just go back for the abridge version by TFS... #NotSponsored.

Ragna: I've been in a couple of these, but I sort of like the whole concept of _Soul Eater_. Makes me wonder what by _BloodScythe_ would look like as a human.

Sol: I was in that one too, what you'd you even call it though. Bloody? Scythe?

VII: That reminds me, that's another story that deserves an update... I guess I'll go with Bleach. I've mostly read the manga instead of the watched the anime. I mean I never even got to the filler arcs in the anime. As far as reading the manga though... it sort of got ridiculous once they got to the palace of the _Soul King_ , so I stopped reading.

Sol: ...Ever think of putting Ragna in Bleach?

VII: More than half the cast is technically a ghost...

Ragna: Please don't.

VII: _Atlas Ultima_ is asking me if I need OC's for the Crusades and while I appreciate the offer, I think I'll be okay with my new story telling perspective. _Shadowedge27_ asks Sol if Ragna could use the Idea Engine to turn _Gears_ like Sol back into a human like he did with Noel.

Sol: It's... hard to say. But I doubt I'll be running any experiments on that until I get back at _That Man._

VII: Speaking of him, another question for Sol from EpicLinkSam: Did you notice that in Japanese Ragna sounds like-

Sol: There's a reason I especially hate the lack of a _CentralFiction dub._

VII: Okay then... _BlazBlade_ asks about the crossover game and I think can't think of any other crossovers other than adding more franchises to this one though.

Ragna: ...How long has it been since you updated this?

VII: Over a year now. For Ragna, he asks about a Bleach crossover that we already discussed, and for Ragna fighting... Alucard from Hellsing? Odd to consider.

Ragna: Fighting another vampire, why am I not surprised.?

VII: They also think that you can curb stomp him... avoiding bias (as well as Ragna's _True Azure_ and Alucard's final _Schrodinger_ ability), I think it would be an interesting fight, but most of the result would hinge on the rules between the Azure Grimoire's _Soul Eater_ and the Vampire functions in the _Hellsing_ verse.

Sol: At least Ragna will give a more ranged vocal performance instead of Luke Valentine screaming in terror.

Ragna: Right, Patrick voiced him too... Yeah, I'd definitely have to make up for that.

VII: As far as the story for Cross Tag Battle goes... I'm actually going to try and avoid theorizing about it, save the fun and go in blind. You know? _EternalCobra34_ asks Sol: If you went to a six year old kid's party and they turned out to be a huge fan of yours, on a scale of one to ten how would you react?

Sol: …

Ragna: I think we have a better term on the scale for this. I call it _Arson Case Waiting To Happen._

Sol: ...Shut up.

Ragna: Say that I'm wrong, go on. Say it.

Sol: Grr...

VII: Guys, calm down. _rafealmystwaker_ asks if the two of you showed up in the Marvel cinematic universe, who would you bring from your world with you?

Ragna: Well... Makoto's out for... lawsuit reasons. I don't know, Noel and maybe Jin. I mean might as well stick with my family now that I've got 'em back.

Sol: ...I'd bring Sin, I guess... maybe Axl too if we ever needed a Time Traveler.

VII: _AGuyWithAStory_ asks about Ragna or Sol showing up in Kingdom Hearts or Sora going vice versa.

Ragna: ...Just keep me out of _Atlantis._

Sol: Not comfortable with being turned into a Merman?

Ragna: Are you?

Sol: I'm still not comfortable being a _Gear_. Merman's the least of my worries. Sides, I think we'd be a bit to... serious when we finally make it to the Disney worlds.

VII: And here I thought you two were going to complain about the _Atlantis Musical Section_ in Kingdom Hearts II.

Ragna: That too.

Sol: …I might have been okay with it if they added Queen music.

VII: And for Sora in your worlds?

Ragna/Sol: GOOD LUCK KID.

VII: Okay then... _Andres1265_ asks... whoa.

Ragna: Not a shipping question...

VII: No, it's not that... I guess this is actually the last question we'll be answering like this... Huh, I got through these quicker than I thought.

Sol: A little sentimental?

Ragna: You're... not thinking about bringing this back, are you?

VII: No... It was fun to try out, but I'm a writer first and foremost. I'll need to focus on the story from here on out and despite it's shortness, _Missing Link_ is going to take some time and effort. Let's do this.

Ragna: Right.

Sol: Got it.

VII: First is to Sol. They write and ask what the GG cast does while the games are on Hiatus.

Sol: Everyone has their own thing that they do. Ky and Dizzy... well I guess I don't need to talk about them. Chipp gets way too into politics, Axl tries to get his time traveling under control, and Potemkin keeps working out so that he's ready for screen time... That's about all I know, I don't keep up with everyone.

VII: And for Ragna. Now that _CentralFiction_ is over, are you still going to appear in the series?

Ragna: I... I can't answer since I've also been left in the dark. Mori hasn't told me jack except 'Oh hey Ragna, here's a new crossover game between you and three other series. Get ready for this would you?' ...Sheesh.

Sol: And the RagnaxRuby fan-base grows ever larger.

Ragna: I've gotten so many death threats cause of that; some warning to not lay a finger on her and others demanding that we need to get together already.

VII: Heh, that game is one thing I'm REALLY looking forward to though... and it looks like we're finally done here.

Sol: So you'll be focusing on the next chapter then?

VII: The next chapter of something yes, but I have a lot of stories to work on... so I don't have any plan on what I'm doing next.

Ragna: And I won't get any rest... considering...

VII: Meh, whatever. See you everyone!

VII/Ragna/Sol: **CIAO!**


End file.
